Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Web-сайт для слежения за спутниками
Привет всем!
Вот, свалилось из Internet...
Web-сайт для слежения за спутниками
[Newsbytes] Агенство NASA открыло Web-сайт, на котором можно
получить доступ к параметрам орбит различных спутников,
вращающихся вокруг Земли и определить занимаемое ими в данный
момент положение. Здесь можно увидеть орбиты станции "Мир",
Международной космической станции, летающего в настоящее время
"шаттла" Endeavour, а также различных спутников связи,
исследовательских и метеорологических спутников. Самые популярные
из запрашиваемых объектов выведены на главную страницу.
Адрес: http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/realtime/jtrack/.
Источник: InfoArt News Agency
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Открыт самый дальний из известных квазаров
Привет всем!
Вот, свалилось из Internet...
Открыт самый дальний из известных квазаров
[SpaceViews] Астрономы
Принстонского Университета открыли
самый дальний из известных на
сегодняшний день квазаров. Открытие
было сделано с помощью 3,5-метрового
телескопа Apache Point Observatory
(APO), расположенного в Hью-Мексико.
Анализ спектров излучения этого
квазара показал, что расстояние до него
составляет как минимум 10 млрд
световых лет. Hа снимке этот квазар
представляет собой небольшое
красноватое пятнышко в центре (указан стрелкой).
Квазары являются довольно загадочными объектами. До сих пор
астрономы не пришли к единому мнению относительно того, что
является источником энергии для квазаров, так как их яркость равна
суммарной яркости звезд 100 галактик, а размер не превышает размеров
нашей Солнечной системы.
Источник: InfoArt News Agency
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Открыт самый дальний из известных квазаров (картинка)
Привет всем!
Вот, свалилось из Internet...
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MQ-I$C$:HQ]Y&*=M7.&&5[5O!3*U6;]I::R[%8!LH+$K;UPPS2@8$8>9HII[U
MBD5*1&DY#O\`YPPPTP]4)3M$6-:#?`@K",9%=]K!OMAAAN'T<H[7H8ZMQ[4\
(?XPPPR9U_]ET
`
end
sum -r/size 17342/8909 section (from "begin" to "end")
sum -r/size 5202/6443 entire input file
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Экипаж Endeavour готовится к приземлению
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Экипаж Endeavour готовится к приземлению
[NASA] Пошел последний день миссии STS-88. Экипаж Endeavour
завершает свою экспедицию. Проделан большой объем работ по сборке и
подготовке к эксплуатации первых двух блоков Международной
космической станции. Два астронавта Джерри Росс (Jerry Ross) и
Джеймс Hьюмен (James Newman) провели 3 выхода в открытый космос,
каждый из которых длился не менее 7 часов. После отстыковки от
станции Endeavour вывел на орбиту спутник связи SAC-A. Теперь члены
экипажа готовятся к посадке в космическом центре им. Кеннеди, которая
должна состояться сегодня поздно ночью в 3 ч 36 минут по местному
времени (16 декабря в 6 ч 36 мин по московскому времени). Сегодня
Endeavour должен также произвести еще один "запуск" спутника. Это
будет небольшой (весом около 320 кг) спутник MightySat, созданный
лабораториями ВВС США и Phillips, который проведет испытания
некоторых новых технологий - на нем установлены
усовершенствованные солнечные батареи, детектор микрочастиц и
другое новейшее оборудование.
Центр управления полетом также готовится к посадке.
Предварительные прогнозы погоды указывают на возможную
облачность и дожди в районе приземления.
Источник: InfoArt News Agency
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Two NASA spacecraft launches involve Cornell astronomers' projects (Fo
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News Service
Cornell University
Contact: Blaine P. Friedlander, Jr.
Office: (607) 255-3290
E-Mail: bpf2@cornell.edu
FOR RELEASE: Dec. 11, 1998
Two NASA spacecraft launches, one to Mars and the other to research the
birth of stars, involve Cornell astronomers' projects
ITHACA, N.Y. -- NASA launched the Mars Climate Orbiter today (Dec. 11, 1998)
from Cape Canaveral, Fla. On board the spacecraft was the Mars Color Imager
-- known as MARCI -- designed with the help of two Cornell University
astronomers. Engineering problems had forced postponement of the launch from
Dec. 10.
The mission marked the second scientific launch in the past week for Cornell
researchers. On Saturday, Dec. 5, NASA launched the Submillimeter Wave
Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) astronomical observatory from the belly of a
modifed L-1011 aircraft.
Mars Climate Orbiter will monitor Mars' atmosphere and capture color images
with MARCI for one Martian year, the equivalent of two Earth years. Mission
scientists expect MARCI to capture images of Martian atmospheric dust and
water vapor and to record seasonal changes.
James F. Bell, Cornell assistant professor of astronomy and a member of the
imaging team says, "We will be doing many things with MARCI that haven't yet
been done. For example, using high resolution color imaging, we'll be
examining how Mars' past climate has been preserved in its rocks and
minerals, much like you can learn about the Earth's geologic past by looking
at the coloring and stratigraphy of the Grand Canyon or other similar
structures. MARCI will fill a big gap between the spectacular
black-and-white images being returned now from the Mars Global Surveyor
mission and the coarser-resolution color data sent back by the Viking
missions more than 20 years ago."
Peter Thomas, a Cornell senior research associate, also a member of the
MARCI team, will use the camera to study the Martian dunes and other
wind-related features on the red planet. These features also provide unique
insights into the present and past climate of Mars.
Bell and Thomas also will be working with the MARCI science team to focus on
detecting and tracking clouds, polar caps and dust storms that are part of
the ever-changing planet's current but poorly understood climate. MARCI's
wide-angle imaging mode will be used to return daily "weather maps" of Mars,
similar to those obtained by Earth weather satellites.
Following a 10-month journey to the planet, the spacecraft will be
"aerobraked" by low passes into the Martian atmosphere to allow it to get
into a circular orbit around Mars. Bell expects the craft to begin sending
data in late 1999 or early 2000. A major role for the spacecraft is to
support its companion spacecraft, Mars Polar Lander, scheduled for launch
early in 1999. In a month-long mission at the end of 1999, Mars Climate
Orbiter will explore the Martian south polar cap.
In last Saturday's launch, rocket boosters took SWAS from the upper
atmosphere into space, where this newest space-based astronomical
observatory will study the heavens in a band called "submillimeter
radiation," lying between the infrared and radio waves on the
electromagnetic spectrum. Astronomers will study the conditions that lead
to the birth of stars, a process now hidden deep within obscuring clouds of
interstellar dust and gas.
"Although stars are the basic building blocks of the universe, little detail
is known concerning how stars are formed," says Paul Goldsmith, Cornell
astronomer and director of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center,
managed by Cornell for the National Science Foundation. Goldsmith, who is a
project co-investigator with Martin Harwit, Cornell professor emeritus of
astronomy, notes that "even today, this vital process is among the least
understood steps in cosmic evolution. SWAS will give astronomers critical
information about conditions in regions that are, or will likely soon be,
forming stars."
The SWAS observatory will orbit the Earth every 97 minutes and typically
will observe three to five astronomical objects an orbit. The observed data
will be stored in the spacecraft memory and relayed to a ground station
twice daily and then relayed to SWAS Science Operations Center at
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass., for analysis.
The mission is designed to last two years.
Andrew Yee
ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Sky & Telescope News Bulletin - December 11, 1998
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SKY & TELESCOPE'S NEWS BULLETIN
DECEMBER 11, 1998
GEMINID METEORS SET TO BLAZE
The Geminid meteor shower should peak Sunday night, December 13-14. Start
watching the sky as early as 10 p.m.; the shower's radiant point (in
Gemini) will already be fairly high in the east by then, so meteors should
be appearing. The radiant is highest near the zenith around 2 a.m. You
might see one or two meteors per minute if you have a natural, truly black
sky packed with stars. In a light-polluted suburb you might see a meteor
every several minutes. For more information visit
http://www.skypub.com/sights/meteors/geminids/98preview_geminids.html or
see the December *Sky & Telescope,* page 117.
HEADING TO MARS
The next step of the exploration of Mars started today with the launch of
NASA's Mars Climate Explorer. The Delta II rocket lifted off from Cape
Canaveral at 1:49 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. It will arrive at Mars in
September 1999. Like Mars Global Surveyor -- currently in service at the
planet -- Climate Explorer will use aerobraking to circularize its orbit.
Climate Explorer will then spend 2 years studying the planet. Afterward,
the spacecraft will be used as a data relay for future missions. Mars
missions are happening fast and furious: The next mission on the launch pad
is Mars Polar Lander, which is scheduled for liftoff on January 3rd, to
arrive at Mars in December 1999.
KILLER IMPACT IN ARGENTINA
A study that only intended to find out more about a enigmatic type of rock
in South America has resulted in the conclusion that the area was rocked by
the impact of an asteroid or comet 3.3 million years ago. Along the ocean
cliffs of southeastern Argentina is a thin layer of greenish glass and red
bricklike rock. A team of American and Argentinean researchers led by Peter
Schultz (Brown University) examined this so-called "escoria" and found
numerous signs of a violent origin. Furthermore, Schultz and his colleagues
explain in the December 11th issue of *Science* that their calculated age
of the glass dates to just prior to the disappearance of three dozen animal
species.
RECORD-BREAKING QUASAR
Although still in its commissioning phase, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey has
discovered three of the four farthest quasars known. The most distant --
with a redshift of 5.0 -- was announced Tuesday at Fermi National
Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago, Illinois. This redshift surpasses the
1991 record holder of 4.89. (Several galaxies are known to have redshifts
greater than 5.) The Sloan Digital Sky Survey aims to chart the positions,
brightnesses, and colors of hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies in
the northern sky. It will also measure the spectral redshifts, and thus the
distances, of a million galaxies and 100,000 quasars, enabling astronomers
to map the large-scale structure of the universe more comprehensively than
ever before. The multinational Sloan survey uses a dedicated 2.5-meter
telescope at Apache Point, New Mexico, and a giant CCD camera that captures
2.5-degree-wide images in five different colors at once. Over the next 5
years the international project will produce a 10-terabyte "digital
encyclopedia" of the sky that reaches some 50 times farther into space than
the famed Palomar Observatory Sky Survey.
FOCUS ON MARS'S NORTH POLE
A processed view of data from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft
has yielded a never-before-seen perspective of Mars's north polar cap.
Imagery from MGS's CCD camera was combined with surface-elevation
measurements from the spacecraft's Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA)
instrument. Some 2.6 million altitude measurements were used to produce a
topographic view of the north pole with a spatial resolution of 1 kilometer
and a vertical accuracy of 5 to 30 meters. According to Maria Zuber
(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) and her colleagues, areas of the polar
cap -- made primarily of water ice -- are very smooth, but the ice features
kilometer-high mounds. The views were first presented earlier this week at
the meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco,
California, and will appear in the December 11th issue of *Science.*
THE POWER OF EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD
Ever since the Van Allen radiation belts were discovered in 1958,
scientists have believed that the primary source of energetic electrons
came from the solar wind. Recent space-based observations and computer
models have indicated otherwise. On Monday at the AGU meeting, a team of
researchers from the International Solar-Terrestrial Physics (ISTP) program
announced that solar storms aren't the source of the particles themselves,
but they push and squeeze Earth's magnetic field and pump up particles'
energies. Data from two dozen spacecraft revealed the energy level in the
belts can vary by a factor of a 1,000 in only a few minutes. It is hoped
through further research that the energy in the belts can be accurately
mapped and predicted.
THIS WEEK'S "SKY AT A GLANCE"
Some daily events in the changing sky, from the editors of SKY &
TELESCOPE.
DEC. 13 -- SUNDAY
* The Geminid meteor shower should peak tonight. Start watching the sky
as early as 10 p.m.; the shower's radiant point (in Gemini) will already be
fairly high by then, so meteors should be appearing. (The radiant is
highest near the zenith around 2 a.m.) Find a dark site with a good sky
view, lie on the ground or in a reclining beach chair, gaze into the
darkest area of your sky, and wait. You might see one or two meteors per
minute if you have a natural, truly black sky packed with stars. In a
light-polluted suburb you might see a meteor every several minutes. For
more information see the December Sky & Telescope, page 117.
DEC. 14 -- MONDAY
* Seen in a medium-sized telescope, Jupiter's Great Red Spot should cross
Jupiter's central meridian (the imaginary line down the center of Jupiter's
disk from pole to pole) around 9:37 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Lately the
spot has been very pale tan with a darker reddish mark in its south side.
For a list of all predicted Red Spot transit times, see
http://www.skypub.com/sights/moonplanets/redspot.html.
* Spot Mars high in the southeast before the first light of dawn Tuesday
or Wednesday morning. Only 1 degree from it you'll see the 3rd-magnitude
star Gamma Virginis, also known as Porrima. A telescope shows the star to
be a close double.
DEC. 15 -- TUESDAY
* As dawn begins to brighten on Wednesday morning, look about 6 degrees
below the waning crescent Moon in the southeast for Mercury.
DEC. 16 -- WEDNESDAY
* Jupiter's Red Spot transits around 11:16 p.m. EST.
DEC. 17 -- THURSDAY
* Jupiter's Red Spot transits around 7:07 p.m. EST.
DEC. 18 -- FRIDAY
* New Moon (exact at 5:42 p.m. EST).
DEC. 19 -- SATURDAY
* About a half hour after sunset, look just above the southwest horizon
for a very thin crescent Moon with Venus a little to its left. Binoculars
will help.
* Jupiter's Red Spot transits around 8:47 p.m. EST.
THIS WEEK'S PLANET ROUNDUP
MERCURY appears very low in the southeast during dawn. Look about 60 to 40
minutes before sunrise.
VENUS is just above the southwest horizon in early dusk. Look about 30
minutes after sunset.
MARS, magnitude +1.3, shines high in the southeast before and during dawn.
Spica is the star to its lower left. Brighter Arcturus shines much farther
to Mars's left.
JUPITER, magnitude -2.4, is the big, bright "star" high in the south after
dusk. You can't miss it! Jupiter moves lower toward the southwest later in
the evening and sets before midnight.
SATURN, magnitude +0.1, is the yellowish "star" far to Jupiter's left just
after dark, and to Jupiter's upper left later in the evening. The two
planets appear 38 degrees apart (about 4 fist-widths at arm's length), on
opposite ends of Pisces.
URANUS and NEPTUNE are disappearing into the sunset.
PLUTO is hidden behind the glare of the Sun.
(All descriptions that relate to the horizon or zenith are written for the
world's midnorthern latitudes. Descriptions that also depend on longitude
are for North America. Eastern Standard Time, EST, equals Universal Time
minus 5 hours.)
More details, sky maps, and news of other celestial events appear each
month in SKY & TELESCOPE, the essential magazine of astronomy. See our
enormous Web site at http://www.skypub.com/. Clear skies!
SKY & TELESCOPE, P.O. Box 9111, Belmont, MA 02478 * 617-864-7360 (voice)
Copyright 1998 Sky Publishing Corporation. S&T's Weekly News Bulletin and
Sky at a Glance stargazing calendar are provided as a service to the
astronomical community by the editors of SKY & TELESCOPE magazine.
Widespread electronic distribution is encouraged as long as these
paragraphs are included. But the text of the bulletin and calendar may not
be published in any other form without permission from Sky Publishing
(contact permissions@skypub.com or phone 617-864-7360). For updates of
astronomical news, including active links to related Internet resources,
are available via SKY & TELESCOPE's site on the World Wide Web at
http://www.skypub.com/.
In response to numerous requests, and in cooperation with the Astronomical
League (http://www.mcs.net/~bstevens/al/) and the American Association of
Amateur Astronomers (http://www.corvus.com/), S&T's Weekly News Bulletin
and Sky at a Glance are available via electronic mailing list too. For a
free subscription, send e-mail to skyline@corvus.com and put the word
"join" on the first line of the body of the message. To unsubscribe, send
e-mail to skyline@corvus.com and put the word "unjoin" on the first line of
the body of the message.
SKY & TELESCOPE, the Essential Magazine of Astronomy, is read by more than
200,000 enthusiasts each month. It is available on newsstands worldwide.
For subscription information, or for a free copy of our catalog of fine
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custserv@skypub.com. WWW: http://www.skypub.com/. Clear skies!
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Mars Surveyor 98 Update - December 11, 1998
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1998 MARS SURVEYOR PROJECT STATUS REPORT
December 11, 1998
John McNamee
Mars Surveyor 98 Project Manager
Mars Climate Orbiter:
The orbiter was launched successfully at 1:45 pm EST on Friday December 11.
Mars Polar Lander:
Lander launch processing activities are proceeding on schedule in the
Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility (SAEF-2) at Kennedy Space
Center (KSC) with launch vehicle 3rd stage mate 6 days away
and launch 23 days away. Hydrazine was loaded on the vehicle. Final
planetary protection assays were taken. Cruise stage solar arrays and the
heat shield were installed. Spin balance was completed.
For more information on the Mars Surveyor 98 mission, please visit
our website at:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: NEAR Spacecraft Closing in on Eros (Forwarded)
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Applied Physics Laboratory
Johns Hopkins University
Laurel, Maryland
Media contacts:
JHU Applied Physics Laboratory: NASA Headquarters:
Helen Worth Doug Isbell
Laurel, MD 20723 Washington, DC
Phone: 240-228-5113 Phone: 202-358-1753
E-mail: helen.worth@jhuapl.edu E-mail: douglas.isbell@hq.nasa.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 14 December 1998
NEAR Spacecraft Closing in on Eros
The NEAR (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous) spacecraft is about to make
interplanetary history. On Jan. 10, 1999, after traveling more than a
billion and a half miles it will reach asteroid 433 Eros and embark on the
first close-up and comprehensive study of an asteroid. The NEAR mission, the
first launch in NASA's Discovery program, is being managed by The Johns
Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), in Laurel, Md., which
also built the spacecraft.
"What we now know about asteroids is very limited," says NEAR Mission
Manager Dr. Robert W. Farquhar of APL. "It's come from ground-based
observations and quick flybys. But now, for the first time, we're going to
go into orbit around an asteroid and study it intensely for a year. We
expect to get astounding information."
During its yearlong mission to unlock the secrets of asteroid Eros, NEAR
will confront the challenge of orbiting a tumbling, irregularly-shaped body
from extremely close distances. Never before has any small body been orbited
by a spacecraft, but the additional task of maneuvering a spacecraft within
9 miles (15 kilometers) of the asteroid's surface makes the engineering
challenge even more complex.
A cluster of six instruments will take millions of measurements and images
over the entire surface of Eros from various altitudes. From these data
scientists will determine the asteroid's physical and geological properties
and its elemental and mineralogical composition.
NEAR's rendezvous with Eros requires that the spacecraft be sped up with a
series of engine burns so that it can catch up with the faster-moving
asteroid. At 5 p.m. (EST) on Dec. 20, 1998, when NEAR is nearly 150,000
miles (242,000 kilometers) from Eros, a bi-propellant rocket engine firing
(or "burn") will increase the spacecraft's speed by 1,500 mph (650 meters
per second).
On Dec. 28, a second burn will increase NEAR's speed by 680 mph (294 meters
per second) while at a distance of 13,000 miles (21,000 kilometers) from
Eros, reducing the spacecraft's speed relative to Eros to less than 70 mph
(30 meters per second). On Jan. 3, 1999, a third burn will reduce the
relative speed a further 50 mph (22 meters per second) at a distance of
3,000 miles (5,000 kilometers). At 10 a.m., on Jan. 10, 1999, NEAR is
scheduled to lock into orbit around Eros with a final burn reducing relative
speed to 19 mph (8 meters per second) at a distance of about 630 miles
(1,000 kilometers).
For the next year NASA's Deep Space Network will transmit data from the
spacecraft to NEAR's Science Data Center, at the Applied Physics Laboratory,
and commands from the Laboratory's Mission Operations Center back to the
spacecraft. Regular tweaking of the spacecraft's orbit will be needed to
ensure that spacecraft instruments are used to their full advantage.
Dr. Joseph Veverka of Cornell University, Science Team Leader for the
mission, says the challenges that face the NEAR mission are significant.
"This will be the first characterization in detail, not only of the surface
of an asteroid, but of the interior of the asteroid, and the history that
this asteroid has gone through based on its surface characteristics and
materials composition."
The NEAR spacecraft was launched Feb. 17, 1996. Its flyby of asteroid
Mathilde on June 27, 1997, provided the program's first science return. By
mission's end, Feb. 6, 2000, scientists expect to know much more about Eros
and thus near-Earth asteroids in general. From this, they hope to gain
insight into the Earth's origin and the formation of the solar system.
To follow the NEAR mission as it unfolds, visit the mission's Web site:
http://near.jhuapl.edu. Updates of mission activities and science returns
will be posted on the Web site and provided to media through press
conferences and briefings. The following conferences and briefings are
currently scheduled:
Dec. 16, 1998 Jan. 10, 1999 Jan. 14, 1999
1 p.m. noon 1 p.m.
NASA Headquarters JHU/APL JHU/APL
Washington, D.C. Laurel, Maryland Laurel, Maryland
Live over NASA TV Live over NASA TV Live over NASA TV
For directions to the APL campus and information on hotel accommodations,
visit Web site: http://www.jhuapl.edu/public/visit/locat.htm .
APL is located on Johns Hopkins Rd., 0.5 mile west of the intersection of
Johns Hopkins Rd. and U.S. Rte. 29, just south of Columbia, Md.
Andrew Yee
ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: This Week On Galileo - December 14-20, 1998
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THIS WEEK ON GALILEO
December 14-20, 1998
Galileo spends most of this week processing and transmitting science
observations taken last week and stored on the spacecraft's on-board
tape recorder. In parallel with playback, the fields and particles
instruments continue their survey of Jupiter's magnetosphere. These
activities are interrupted on Friday so the spacecraft can perform a
flight path correction.
First on the playback schedule is the return of a series of images
taken by the spacecraft camera. The images capture Saturn's moon
Titan, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, and will be used by camera
engineers to calibrate some of the camera filters. Next on the
schedule, the near-infrared mapping spectrometer returns an observation
of the star Sirius. The data obtained from the observation will be
used to calibrate some of the instruments' detectors. Finally, the
fields and particles instruments will start returning data obtained
during a five hour recording of Jupiter's magnetosphere. The data were
recorded as the spacecraft flew through the center of a region known as
the plasma sheet. This region is largely unexplored and is a region of
Jupiter's magnetosphere where the solar wind exerts a varying influence
on Jupiter's magnetic field and on the plasma therein.
For more information on the Galileo spacecraft and its mission to
Jupiter, please visit the Galileo home page:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: WDC-A R&S Launch Announcement 12981: Mars Climate Orbiter
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COSPAR/ISES
WORLD WARNING AGENCY FOR SATELLITES
WORLD DATA CENTER-A FOR R & S, NASA/GSFC
CODE 633, GREENBELT, MARYLAND, 20771. USA
SPACEWARN 12981
COSPAR/WWAS USSPACECOM NUMBER
SPACECRAFT INTERNATIONAL ID (CATALOG NUMBER) LAUNCH DATE,UT
Mars Climate Orbiter 1998-073A 25571 11 DECEMBER 1998
DR. JOSEPH H. KING, DIRECTOR, WDC-A-R&S.
[PH: (301) 286 7355.
E-MAIL: KING@NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV
14 DECEMBER 1998 13:35 UT]
Further details will be in a forthcoming SPACEWARN Bulletin
Dr. Edwin V. Bell, II
_/ _/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/ Mail Code 633
_/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ NASA Goddard Space
_/ _/ _/ _/_/ _/_/ _/ _/ _/ Flight Center
_/ _/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ Greenbelt, MD 20771
_/ _/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/ +1-301-286-1187
ed.bell@gsfc.nasa.gov
SPACEWARN home page: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: WDC-A R&S Launch Announcement 12982: SAC-A
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COSPAR/ISES
WORLD WARNING AGENCY FOR SATELLITES
WORLD DATA CENTER-A FOR R & S, NASA/GSFC
CODE 633, GREENBELT, MARYLAND, 20771. USA
SPACEWARN 12982
COSPAR/WWAS USSPACECOM NUMBER
SPACECRAFT INTERNATIONAL ID (CATALOG NUMBER) LAUNCH DATE,UT
SAC-A 1998-069B 25550 04 DECEMBER 1998
[THE DATE IS THE LAUNCH DATE OF 1998-069A (STS 88). THE RELEASE DATE
OF SAC-A FROM STS 88 WAS LATER, BUT IS NOT AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME.]
DR. JOSEPH H. KING, DIRECTOR, WDC-A-R&S.
[PH: (301) 286 7355.
E-MAIL: KING@NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV
14 DECEMBER 1998 16:30 UT]
Further details will be in a forthcoming SPACEWARN Bulletin
Dr. Edwin V. Bell, II
_/ _/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/ Mail Code 633
_/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ NASA Goddard Space
_/ _/ _/ _/_/ _/_/ _/ _/ _/ Flight Center
_/ _/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ Greenbelt, MD 20771
_/ _/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/ +1-301-286-1187
ed.bell@gsfc.nasa.gov
SPACEWARN home page: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: WDC-A R&S Launch Announcement 12983: ISS-Unity
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COSPAR/ISES
WORLD WARNING AGENCY FOR SATELLITES
WORLD DATA CENTER-A FOR R & S, NASA/GSFC
CODE 633, GREENBELT, MARYLAND, 20771. USA
SPACEWARN 12983
COSPAR/WWAS USSPACECOM NUMBER
SPACECRAFT INTERNATIONAL ID (CATALOG NUMBER) LAUNCH DATE,UT
ISS-UNITY 1998-069F 25575 04 DECEMBER 1998
UNITY WAS BOLTED TO ZARYA AND RELEASED FROM STS 88 ON 13 DECEMBER.
THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE CAME FROM USSPACECOM:
THIS OBJECT WAS CATALOGED WITHOUT AN ELSET. IT IS NOT INDIVIDUALLY
TASKED, IT IS THE FIRST AMERICAN PIECE OF THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE
STATION. IT IS CONNECTED TO THE ISS (25544), AND AS SUCH HAS NO
TASKING AT ALL.
DR. JOSEPH H. KING, DIRECTOR, WDC-A-R&S.
[PH: (301) 286 7355.
E-MAIL: KING@NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV
15 DECEMBER 1998 13:50 UT]
Further details will be in a forthcoming SPACEWARN Bulletin
Dr. Edwin V. Bell, II
_/ _/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/ Mail Code 633
_/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ NASA Goddard Space
_/ _/ _/ _/_/ _/_/ _/ _/ _/ Flight Center
_/ _/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ Greenbelt, MD 20771
_/ _/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/ +1-301-286-1187
ed.bell@gsfc.nasa.gov
SPACEWARN home page: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/
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=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Mars Global Surveyor Update - December 11, 1998
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Mars Global Surveyor
Project Status Report Overview
Prepared by Mars Surveyor Operations Project Manager
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Friday 11 December 1998
Mars Global Surveyor aerobraking operations continue in a very satisfactory
manner. The orbital period has been reduced to 4 hours and 23 minutes on
MGS's 845 orbit of Mars. Propulsive maneuvers have been made during the week
to not only adjust the dynamic pressure but also to avoid close passage to
the satellite Phobos. Tomorrow morning (12/12/98 at 4:40 am PST) the
spacecraft will pass within 200 miles (300 km) of the moon Phobos.
It has been determined that the Magnetometer/Electron Reflectometer
instrument will be able to remain powered on and acquiring data until at
least January 28, 1999, when the spacecraft's periapsis reaches its southern
most point. Aerobraking operations will continue until early February when
the orbit will be nearly circular and have a period of two hours.
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=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Mars Global Surveyor Aerobraking Update - December 14, 1998
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Mars Global Surveyor Aerobraking Status Report
Monday, December 14 (DOY 343/19:00:00 to DOY 348/19:00:00 UTC)
Last Orbit Covered by this Report = 862
Total Phase I Aerobraking orbits accomplished = 180
Total Phase II Aerobraking orbits accomplished = 289
Total Science Phasing orbits accomplished = 290
Apoapsis altitude = 5745 km
Apoapsis altitude decrease since start of aerobraking = 48281 km
Periapsis altitude = 113.8 km
Current Orbit Period = 04:14:14
Orbit Period decrease since start of aerobraking = 40:45:19
Starting Phase II orbit period = 11:38:02
RECENT EVENTS:
The Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft maintains excellent performance as Phase
2 aerobraking operations continue. Each periapsis pass reduces the orbit
period by about 30 seconds which keeps the period reduction profile even
with the planned period reduction for the week. Currently, the period is
about 12 minutes ahead of the baseline. The dynamic pressure 7-orbit running
mean is now 0.131 N/m2 which is within the desired corridor, 0.11 N/m2 to
0.17 N/m2. A periapsis raise maneuver was executed on orbit 845 to lower the
drag force and to assure Phobos avoidance. Phobos was missed by about 300 km
on orbit 849 and future encounters will not be any closer since the MGS
orbit is now totally within the Phobos orbit. The orbit-to-orbit dynamic
pressure variability has been as high as 55% during this period.
Currently, sequence P858 is controlling the S/C activities. It will be
replaced later this afternoon with P863 which will control activities
starting with orbit 863 through orbit 869. No backup orbits were executed
this period. All sequences built this period had 6 primary orbits and 3
backups to maintain a primary shift build schedule. Periapsis timing
predictions by the Nav team continue to be outstanding enabling prime shift
sequence builds.
Subsystems continue to report excellent S/C health and performance. The -Y
solar array yoke has shown no change in structural performance. Attitude
knowledge has been maintained throughout the period with excellent star
processing. The power subsystem reports strong performance with battery
discharge depths ranging from 11.4% to 14.3%. Sun avoidance maneuvers occur
about every third orbit and contribute the higher DoD. There are 8 minutes
of primary charger margin following the deeper discharges. The minimum MOLA
laser temperature observed this period was 12.0 °C using a 30 minute warming
maneuver each orbit. The telecommunications subsystem continues solid
performance. The uplink for the P847 sequence failed due to a missing
message. This occurred over DSS-34 on 98-345/20:27:31. The sequence was
re-radiated in whole and was successful the second time.
System Test Lab (STL) validation of 2 am flight software changes continue.
Preparations are underway to test the fixed HGA mapping sequence and an
aerobraking sequence with eclipse parameters included, featuring the
post-periapsis roll-out to Earth-pointed power generation / MOLA warming
maneuver.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Periapsis for Orbit 863 DOY348/22:33:21 UTC Through
Periapsis for Orbit 873 DOY350/16:25:31 UTC
(Note: MST = UTC-7 hours DOY348=12/14)
SPACECRAFT COMMANDING:
There were 14 command files radiated to the S/C during this period. The
total files radiated since launch is now 3051. These commands were sent in
support of the following activities:
Nominal drag pass sequences (P836, P841, P847, P852, P858, P863)
Nominal corridor control maneuver sequences (A845)
Command loss timer resets
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=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: NASA In The News In 1998
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Beth Schmid
Headquarters, Washington, DC December 15, 1998
(Phone: 202/358-1760)
RELEASE: 98-223
NASA IN THE NEWS IN 1998
Aeronautics and space got noticed in '98 -- with the return
of John Glenn to earth orbit, the start of International Space
Station construction, and the discovery of ice on the moon.
Background information is available to news media to illustrate
the top 10 NASA stories of the year via the World Wide Web at the
URLs listed. The video to accompany these stories will be
available on NASA TV at noon today.
John Glenn Returns to Space
Senator John Glenn was named as a payload specialist last
Jan. 16, and assigned to the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery,
which was launched Oct. 29, 1998, on a nine-day mission.
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/glenn-j.html
First International Space Station Assembly
Phase II -- construction in orbit -- began with the first
station elements launched in 1998: Zarya in November and Unity in
December. Next, the first wholly Russian contribution, a
component called the Service Module, will be launched from Russia
in 1999. http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/
Hubble Takes Image of Possible Planet Around Another Star
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope gave astronomers their first
direct look at what is possibly a planet outside our solar system
-- one that apparently has been ejected into deep space by its
parent stars. http://oposite.stsci.edu/1998/19
Most Powerful Gamma Ray Burst since Big Bang
A cosmic gamma ray burst detected this year released a
hundred times more energy than previously theorized, making it the
most powerful explosion since the creation of the universe in the
Big Bang.
http://science.msfc.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast06may98_1.htm
Lunar Prospector Discovers Ice on Moon
There is a high probability that water ice exists at both the
north and south poles of the Moon, according to initial scientific
data returned by NASA's Lunar Prospector this year.
ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/1998/98-038.txt
NASA Studies La Nina
Research scientists using data from the Tropical Rainfall
Measuring Mission (TRMM), SeaWiFS and TOPEX/POSEIDON missions are
shedding new light on the phenomenon known as La Nina. The images
show changes in sea-surface temperature, and ocean current
movement and the dissipation of El Nino. While it is too early to
draw definite conclusions, the results to date appear to confirm
the onset of La Nina-type conditions.
http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/discover/el_nino.html
Antarctic Ozone Hole
In late 1997, larger levels of ozone depletion were observed
over the Arctic than in any previous year on record. In 1998,
using climate models, a team of scientists reported why this may
be related to greenhouse gases.
ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/1998/98-058.txt
Magnetar
A neutron star, located 40,000 light years from Earth, is
generating the most intense magnetic field yet observed in the
Universe, according to an international team of astronomers led by
scientists at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL.
http://science.msfc.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast20may98_1.htm
Pathfinder Airplane
NASA's remotely piloted, solar-powered Pathfinder-Plus flying
wing reached a record altitude of more than 80,000 feet during a
developmental test flight Aug. 6 in Hawaii. The altitude is the
highest ever achieved by a propeller-driven craft and surpasses
the official record altitude of 71,530 feet for a solar-powered
aircraft set by an earlier version of the Pathfinder last summer.
http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/PAO/PressReleases/1998/98-64.html
Eileen Collins Named First Woman Shuttle Commander
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton announced from the White
House in early 1998 that astronaut Eileen Collins (Lt. Col., USAF)
would become the first woman to command a Space Shuttle when
Columbia launches on the STS-93 mission in March 1999.
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/collins.html
- end -
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=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: USAF, NASA add National Reconnaissance Office to partnership , agreeme
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Air Force Space Command News Service
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 15, 1998
AF, NASA add National Reconnaissance Office to partnership agreement
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AFSPCNS) -- Air Force Space Command and
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration recently included the
National Reconnaissance Office as a full partner on the Partnership Council
they established in February 1997.
The purpose of the Partnership Council is to find ways to save money,
reduce risk, and integrate planning efforts in areas of mutual interest.
The Council members, Daniel Goldin, NASA Administrator; Keith Hall, NRO
Director, and Gen. Richard B. Myers, commander of Air Force Space Command,
signed the agreement in Washington D.C. Nov. 23. At the meeting they
reviewed the status of their collaborative efforts and explored
opportunities to implement the nation's space program effectively and
efficiently.
Partnership Council initiatives are already beginning to bear fruit. One
example, reviewed at this meeting, is the Joint Base Operations and Support
Contract (J-BOSC) in Florida, which integrates support services at Cape
Canaveral Air Station, Patrick AFB, Fla., and NASA's Kennedy Space Center
under one contract. The J-BOSC contract, which began operations Oct. 1,
will consolidate 18 contracts into one, significantly streamlining support
operations at the installations.
The Council also reviewed joint efforts during the recent Leonid meteor
shower. The cooperation demonstrated during the shower will be used as a
model in preparation for next year's peak solar geomagnetic activity known
as Solar Max.
The partners reviewed and undertook efforts for future collaboration
including the search for Earth crossing asteroids, space transportation,
launch range modernization, and technology cooperation. Space technology
cooperation is largely coordinated through a subgroup, the Space Technology
Alliance, which works to integrate technology investment throughout four
government agencies.
Goldin, Hall and Myers were unanimous in their support of the Council's
efforts and the promise it holds for achieving the nation's goals in space.
"The Partnership Council offers a unique and superb forum for addressing
common space-related issues and concerns while stimulating initiatives that
will reap great benefits and great savings for our respective organizations
and our nation," said Myers.
Andrew Yee
ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca
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=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Air Force changes way it does space business (Forwarded)
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Air Force Space Command News Service
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 14, 1998
Air Force changes way it does space business
By Tech. Sgt. Timothy Hoffman, Air Force Space Command Public Affairs
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AFSPCNS) -- The Air Force is in the middle
of a fundamental shift in the way it views its role in the nation's space
business, said the acting Secretary of the Air Force after attending the
Commercial Space Industry Leaders' conference here Dec. 10.
"We are in the transitioning out of being a consumer of launch vehicles,"
said Whit Peters, acting Secretary of the Air Force. "In fact, the very theory
behind EELV (Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle) is to buy launch services,
rather than buy launch vehicles.
"Lockheed-Martin, Boeing and the Air Force have each put a billion dollars
into EELV. It is flexible and will meet our launch needs."
Peters said space is an industry that is taking off. Then, as the economic
benefits of higher production kick in, it will save the Air Force money. "The
better Lockheed-Martin and Boeing do commercially, the better off we are
because it will reduce our cost of getting to space."
In 1999 and beyond, the Air Force's Eastern Range at Patrick AFB, Fla., and
the Western Range at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., will see more commercial
launches than military ones.
"Realistically they are both national ranges now," said Peters. "We are in
an era where the ranges serve a very large commercial base."
The key issue, Peters said, is to make sure the Air Force has a robust space
force during and after this shift. Air Force Space Command's people will
play a critical role in ensuring that happens.
"Whatever we do, first we need to make an assessment of what the space
career field is, how many people we need, and make sure we retain the
assets we need to have a national defense space team," said Peters. "We
are going to do this very carefully, very cautiously, to make sure that we
don't screw up the space career field."
The challenge is "trying to sort out how to take what we have, keep the
space career field intact, and transition from a 'consumer' to a 'provider'
of services," he said.
Currently, both launch ranges provide critical infrastructure, safety and
telemetry for both military and commercial launches.
"We need to make sure those portions of the space business that can be
commercialized are commercialized. We also need to look at shifting the
safety and regulatory jurisdiction more to the hands of the Federal
Aviation Administration where it is vested by law."
State governments are also playing a larger and more important role in
space.
"California and Florida are very interested in providing the same kinds
of assistance for space launch that they do for many of their other
industries," said Peters. This assistance often includes tax incentives
and infrastructure support. Alaska, Virginia and New Mexico also have a
strong interest in space, he said.
"These states see commercial launch and commercial space activities
as a major economic industry. They are very interested in having a role
and we are very interested in giving them a role. "
From new roads to providing water, gas and sewer we are very actively
involved in shifting from Air Force-owned assets to using state, or
public service commission services. This is not just happening in Air
Force Space Command, but across the Air Force. "
PHOTO CAPTION:
[http://www.af.mil:80/news/Dec1998/n19981214_981931.html]
"We are transitioning out of being a consumer of launch vehicles," said
Whit Peters, acting secretary of the Air Force, after the Commercial
Space Industry Leaders' Conference Dec. 10. Photo by Staff Sgt. Alex
Lloyd, 21st Communications Squadron.
Andrew Yee
ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca
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=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceDev Places JPL On Contract To Support NEAP Mission Planning
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Tuesday December 15, 9:21 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SpaceDev Places JPL On Contract To Support NEAP Mission Planning
Commercial Deep-Space Mission-Support Contract is a First for NASA and JPL
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 15, 1998--SpaceDev, Inc. (OTC BB:SPDV -
news), the world's first commercial space exploration company, has
placed NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) under contract to provide
various analysis and planning services for SpaceDev's first deep-space
science mission, the Near Earth Asteroid Prospector (NEAP).
The NEAP spacecraft is planned to launch in 2001 and by mid-2002 should
brendezvous with the asteroid 4660 Nereus for a two-month primary
mission.
Starting immediately, engineers in JPL's Telecommunications and Mission
Operations Directorate (TMOD) will initiate the process for allocating
its world-wide DSN resources to support tracking, commanding and
telemetry reception for NEAP in 2002, principally during the spacecraft's
cruise to Nereus and during operations in close proximity to the
approximately 1-kilometer-(0.6-mile-) diameter body.
``To meet our NEAP launch readiness date of early 2001 and Nereus
rendezvous date of mid-2002, we have to get the DSN tracking
pass-allocation process started now,'' said Rex Ridenoure, SpaceDev's
Chief Mission Architect. ``The 34-meter DSN dishes we'll need for
communicating with NEAP also supports other numerous deep-space
missions, so now is the time to make our needs known to JPL and get into
the queue,'' he added.
The SpaceDev contract marks a first for NASA and JPL; never before in
the 40-year history of the DSN has a commercial company requested
tracking time and analysis support for a deep-space mission. ``The Jet
Propulsion Laboratory has accepted a request by SpaceDev to study the
feasibility of tracking NEAP using NASA's Deep Space Network,'' said Gael
Squibb, JPL's Assistant Laboratory Director for TMOD. ``This is the first
time a commercial enterprise has attempted to build and fly a scientific
mission into deep space, and we're looking forward to working with
SpaceDev on its NEAP mission,'' he added.
In coming months and through fall next year, JPL will also assess NEAP's
telecommunication system design for compatibility with the DSN and will
assist SpaceDev in defining and pricing selected JPL-supplied
mission-operations services, software tools and other engineering
support required for the mission. Demands placed by the NEAP mission on
JPL's Deep Space Mission System -- comprising the world-wide DSN and
JPL-based Advanced Multi-Mission Operations System -- are expected to be
quite modest. The JPL work follows a well-defined process applied to all
missions using the DSN.
SpaceDev is providing the funds for this work to JPL via JPL's
Technology Affiliates Program which covers the first of several phases of
expected JPL support activity. SpaceDev is also in the process of
negotiating with NASA on the possibility of providing radio science data
in exchange for certain DSN services, however the parties have not
entered into any formal agreement at this time.
SpaceDev, the world's first commercial space exploration and development
company, intends to launch the first privately financed spacecraft to
visit and land on another planetary body. SpaceDev is selling rides for
scientific instruments to governments and companies to transport their
instruments and experiments through deep space to a near Earth asteroid.
SpaceDev intends to sell the data acquired by its instruments as
commercial products. Colorado-based SpaceDev has offices in San Diego,
CA and Washington, DC.
SpaceDev also announced that its consolidated Revenue for the 1998 year
will be lower than expected due to the timing of SpaceDev's acquisition
of its second wholly owned subsidiary and other delays associated with
NASA's funding cycle.
Pasadena-based JPL is a division of the California Institute of
Technology. It defines and conducts most deep-space missions for NASA
and also manages and operates the Deep Space Network (DSN).
The foregoing press release includes numerous forward-looking statements
concerning the company's business and future prospects and other similar
statements that do not concern matters of historical fact. The federal
securities laws provide a limited ``safe harbor'' for certain
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this press
release relating to product development, business prospects and
development of a commercial market for technological advances are based
on the company's current expectations. The company's current expectations
are subject to all of the uncertainties and risks customarily associated
with new business ventures including, but not limited to market
conditions, successful product development and acceptance, competition
and overall economic conditions, as well as the risk of adverse
regulatory actions. The company's actual results may differ materially
from current expectations. Readers are cautioned not to put undue
reliance on forward-looking statements. The company disclaims any intent
or obligation to update publicly these forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or for any other
reason.
NOTE: News releases and other information on SpaceDev can be accessed at
http://www.SpaceDev.com.
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=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Mars Climate Orbiter Update - December 13, 1998
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MARS CLIMATE ORBITER MISSION STATUS
December 13, 1998
4:00 P.M. (PST)
Now 53 hours past launch, the Mars Climate Orbiter spacecraft is being
monitored continuously by ground stations in NASA's Deep Space Network, and
is in good health. During the past two days updated estimates of the flight
path continue to indicate an accurate injection was achieved by the Delta 7425
launch vehicle.
Yesterday, the spacecraft was commanded to slew to its desired attitude
and solar array position to begin the cruise to Mars. After successfully
completing this maneuver, the flight team observed some anomalies in the
onboard attitude determination system, followed by an undesireable
increase in the temperatures of some propulsion system components. After
some discussion, the team decided to return the spacecraft to its original
post-launch attitude and command it to transmit additional telemetry data
to Earth, permitting more detailed evaluation of the attitude
determination system. After returning to its initial attitude,
temperatures of the propulsion components under observation were seen to
quickly drop to their previous values.
The flight team is now proceeding with the development of navigation
data and commands for the spacecraft to perform its first Trajectory
Correction Maneuver (TCM) eight days from now. The magnitude of this
maneuver will be just 20 meters per second, 20 percent less than the
expected value. After completion of this maneuver, designated TCM-1, an
initial checkout of the spacecraft's two science instruments will be
conducted.
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=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: ROSAT X-Ray Telescope Mission Comes To An End
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William Steigerwald
Goddard Space Flight Center December 9, 1998
Greenbelt, MD
William.A.Steigerwald.1@gsfc.nasa.gov
Phone: 301-286-5017
RELEASE NO: 98-215
ROSAT X-RAY TELESCOPE MISSION COMES TO AN END
The highly productive and long-lived ROSAT X-ray telescope guest observer
mission, which detected a previously little-known world of pulsars,
supernova remnants and galaxy clusters, has come to an end with the failure
of the telescope's last working detector.
Scientists completed the two final days of observations yesterday (Dec. 8)
by using reserved gas and a second X-ray detector, called the Position
Sensitive Proportional Counters (PSPC). The PSPC naturally exhausted its
xenon gas supply in 1994 and has been inactive ever since. The two-day
reserve gas allowed the PSPC to turn on and make one last observation of a
few important astrophysical objects, such as Supernova 1987a, which was
ROSAT's very first target in 1990.
"ROSAT has provided us with much more scientific data than we ever hoped
for," said Dr. Robert Petre, the U.S. ROSAT Project Scientist based at
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Among astronomy
satellites in near earth orbit, ROSAT has had an extraordinarily long life.
Clever tinkering by ROSAT engineers kept the satellite operational years
beyond its expected life span -- even through these past few months."
After eight years in space, the satellite's navigational system had badly
deteriorated. In an unavoidable event in September, the satellite's High
Resolution Imager (HRI), an X-ray camera built by the Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), suffered irreversible damage to its
collecting plate after accidentally scanning too closely to the Sun.
ROSAT is short for Rontgen Satellite, named after Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen,
the discoverer of X-rays. It was an X-ray observatory developed by Germany,
Britain and the United States; launched by NASA in 1990; operated by the
Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) near Munich; and
utilized by scientists around the world. Goddard, with collaboration from
SAO, served as the U.S. center for data analysis, archiving and distribution.
ROSAT's lasting legacy will be its impact on X-ray astronomy. The telescope
detected more than 150,000 X-ray sources, 20-times more than were previously
known. More than 3,000 scientific papers have been published based on ROSAT
observations so far. At least one ROSAT-based publication appears in the
scientific literature every day.
"The ROSAT mission has been extremely rewarding for many scientists," said
Joachim Trumper, MPE Director and ROSAT Scientific Director. "It has
brought forth discoveries in almost all fields of astrophysics, ranging
from the moon and comets to the most distant quasars -- from the tiny
neutron star to clusters of galaxies, the largest physical objects in the
universe."
ROSAT was the first observatory to detect X-rays from the moon. In the
distant universe, ROSAT resolved virtually all of the cosmic X-ray
background into discrete quasars and galaxies. ROSAT observations of
supernova remnants and galaxy clusters were detailed enough to determine
temperature structures of expanding gas clouds and the mass of hot gas and
dark matter, respectively.
Among ROSAT's highlights:
* The detailed exploration of a million-degree, low density halo of gas
surrounding the Milky Way galaxy.
* The detection of large halos of gas glowing in X-rays from virtually all
comets passing near the sun, produced by the interaction the comet's gas and
fast-moving subatomic particles in the solar wind.
* The detection of clusters of galaxies at a much larger distance than
expected, leading scientists to question how such massive objects could form
so early in the history of the universe.
* The detection of an isolated, nearby neutron star, which, according to
previous theories, was a large enough star at one time to collapse into a
black hole and has therefore led scientists to question how massive a star
can get without its lifecycle ending in a black hole stage.
* Revolutionary discoveries about star formation, including the observation
that a large fraction of young stars lie far away from "classical"
star-forming regions, indicating that star formation is a more ubiquitous
process than thought and that the X-ray emission from young stars plays a
key role in the regulation of the star formation rate.
* The measurement of the total amount and distribution of dark matter in
assemblages of galaxies, with X-ray emitting gas tracing the effect of
gravity and showing that the distribution of dark matter is different from
that of the galaxies as seen in visible light.
Analysis of existing ROSAT data is expected to continue for several more
years, the results of which will influence the next round of large X-ray
observatories: NASA's Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility, to be launched
in spring 1999; the German ABRIXAS (A Broad-band Imaging X-ray All-sky
Survey), featuring a CCD camera, to be launched in spring 1999; the
Japanese/NASA Astro-E, scheduled for a February 2000 launch; and ESA's
X-ray Multimirror Mission, to be launched in spring 2000.
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews - December 1998 [1/13]
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This is the December 1998 "SpaceViews" (tm) newsletter, published by the
Boston chapter of the National Space Society.
For a description of related e-mail lists maintained by the Boston NSS, or
to stop receiving this SpaceViews newsletter, see the instructions at the
end of this message.
The next Boston meeting is Thursday, December 3, 1998, 7:30pm
8th floor, 545 Main Street (Tech Square), Cambridge; see "Upcoming Boston
NSS Events"
Speaker: Frank White
"The Overview Effect"
Future meetings are on the first Thursdays of each month:
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Copyright (C) 1998 by Boston Chapter of National Space Society,
a non-profit educational 501(c)3 organization.
All articles in SpaceViews represent the opinions of the authors and do not
necessarily represent the views of the Editor, the National Space Society
(NSS), or the Boston chapter of the NSS.
S P A C E V I E W S
Volume Year 1998, Issue 12
December 1998
http://www.spaceviews.com/1998/12/
*** News ***
First Space Station Module Launched
Small Workforce Could Hamper Station Assembly
DS1 Ion Engine Works Again
Leonids Delight Observers, Spare Satellites
NASA Releases Plans to Commercialize Space Station
Australian Senate Debates Commercial Space Bill
Aerospatiale to Build European ISS Vehicle
Fourth Time a Charm for Delta Launch
European Astronomers Discover Nearby Extrasolar Planet
Asteroid "Fossil" May Be Evidence of Dinosaurs' Demise
SpaceViews Event Horizon
Other News
*** Articles ***
The Talking Atlas
[part 2]
Charting the Future of Planetary Science Missions
*** Book Reviews ***
Dragonfly: NASA and the Crisis aboard Mir
The Moon Book
Rocket Boys
*** NSS News ***
Upcoming Boston NSS Events
NSS Election Results
*** Features ***
Jonathan's Space Report No. 380
Space Calendar
*** News ***
First Space Station Module Launched
Assembly of the International Space Station, the most complex
space project ever, began early Friday, November 20, with the launch
of the Zarya control module.
A Russian Proton rocket launched the Zarya ("Sunrise") control
module at 1:40 am EST (0640 UT) from Baikonur Cosmodrome in
Kazakhstan. The launch proceeded smoothly.
Zarya was launched into an elliptical orbit ranging from 184
km (114 mi.) to 363 km (225 mi.). A 100-second burn by Zarya's
maneuvering engine on Saturday, November 21, the first of several
planned, raised Zarya's orbit to 252 km by 365 km (156 by 226 mi.).
A 1 minute, 56 second burn by one of two of Zarya's large
thrusters Tuesday, the fifth and last planned, placed the spacecraft
into an orbit of 387 by 405 kilometers (240 by 251 miles).
Zarya's orbit will naturally decay into a circular 390-km
(242-mi.) orbit by early this month, when the space shuttle Endeavour
meets up with Zarya and attaches the Unity docking node to the
station. The shuttle is scheduled for launch December 3 with
rendezvous three days later.
A few minor problems were reported with Zarya shortly after
launch, but no "problems of significance," according to a NASA report,
that would hinder use of the module.
The Zarya control module, previously known as the Functional
Cargo Block or FGB (its Russian acronym) will provide the initial
power and propulsion to the station until the Service Module arrives.
It will later be used primarily for storage.
While the initial efforts of ISS proceed, plans are in the
works to add another country to the project. Reuters reported
November 24 that the Ukraine would join ISS some time in 1999 by
agreeing to build a science module that Russia was originally slated
to provide.
"Participation in this international project is extremely
important for us, for the country, which has a long space tradition,"
Volodymyr Horbulin, head of Ukraine's Council of Security and Defence,
told Reuters.
The Ukrainian module would cost an estimated $100-150 million
and be completed in 2003 or 2004, Reuters reported.
Small Workforce Could Hamper Station Assembly
A downsized shuttle workforce -- nearly 50 percent smaller
than what it was just five years ago -- could keep NASA from keeping
its ambitious space station assembly schedule, according to a Florida
Today article published Sunday, November 29.
The article quoted a internal NASA report which stated that
the shuttle workforce is able to handle the current shuttle flight
rate but may run into problems with the increased flight rate planned
during the International Space Station (ISS) assembly.
"I think you can summarize it by saying, `We're not in trouble
now, but boy can we get into trouble,'" Seymour Himmel, a member of
the independent Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, told Florida Today.
A workforce of 3,800 contractors and 600 NASA civil servants
currently handle space shuttle operations at the Kennedy Space Center,
under a contract NASA has with United Space Alliance (USA), a joint
Boeing-Lockheed Martin venture. That number is about half of the
shuttle workforce five years earlier.
That workforce has been able to handle a shuttle flight rate
of 5-7 launches a year thanks to increased efficiency. However, the
NASA report questioned whether further improvements would be able to
handle the 8 or more launches a year planned for ISS assembly.
To achieve the scheduled flight rate, workers will have to cut
the processing time for a shuttle launch to about 367,000 man-hours,
30 percent less than present, according to the report.
"The sensitivity to safety is the same here as it always has
been and always will be," Robert Sieck, NASA's director of shuttle
operations, told Florida Today. "Schedule will not override safety.
It hasn't. It doesn't. It won't."
The report comes just days before the first space shuttle
flight dedicated to ISS. The shuttle Endeavour is scheduled for
launch at 3:54 am EST (0854 UT) Thursday, December 3. It will carry
the Unity docking module into orbit and attach it to the Zarya control
module, launched November 20 on a Russian rocket.
The countdown of the mission began Monday morning, November
30. Weather conditions, including clouds and rain, may delay the
launch though: Air Force meteorologists are predicting only a 40
percent chance of acceptable weather conditions Thursday morning.
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews - December 1998 [2/13]
Привет всем!
Вот, свалилось из Internet...
DS1 Ion Engine Works Again
The ion engine on NASA's Deep Space 1 (DS1) spacecraft is
working again after an initial test two weeks ago failed after just a
few minutes.
The engine, a centerpiece of the technology demonstration
mission, was turned on again at 5:53 pm EST (2253 UT) Tuesday,
November 24. The engine ran continuously in low-thrust mode
overnight. Controllers later turned up the engine into higher-thrust
modes Wednesday morning.
"We are very pleased that the engine started and continued to
thrust," said Marc Rayman, DS1 chief mission engineer. "In fact, it
has been running very smoothly over the first day of its operation."
The engine was first powered up on November 10, but shut down
after just 4 1/2 minutes of use. Efforts to bring the engine back
online immediately after the failure were unsuccessful, and later
efforts were hampered by other minor problems on the spacecraft.
"It's common for new ion engines on the ground or on Earth-
orbiting spacecraft to shut themselves off a few times when they are
first exercised," said Rayman. "We would not be surprised if the
engine shut itself off again over the first few days or weeks that it
runs."
The ion engine works by using electrons to ionize a stream of
xenon gas atoms. The xenon ions are then accelerated by a magnetic
field out the rear of the spacecraft, generating thrust. While the
thrust is feeble -- comparable to the force a sheet of paper exerts on
a hand -- it is constant, and thus can accelerate the spacecraft over
time more efficiently then conventional engines.
Controllers at JPL plan to keep the engine running throughout
the four-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend that starts Thursday,
November 26.
The ion engine is one of several new technologies being tested
on this mission, along with advanced solar cells and autonomous
navigation systems. However, it is among the most important, because
without it the spacecraft will be unable to perform a flyby of
asteroid 1992 KD, scheduled for July 1999. The engine would also be
needed for flybys of two comets planned for 2001 if the mission is
extended.
Leonids Delight Observers, Spare Satellites
In a display not nearly as intense as predicted, the Leonid
meteor shower lit up night skies around the world on the nights of
November 17-18 but did not damage any satellites.
The peak of the storm, forecast for the early morning hours of
November 18 over eastern Asia, may have taken place hours earlier over
Europe and the Atlantic, according to observer reports filtering in
via the Internet.
Many observers in the Far East were clouded out when the peak
of the storm, expected to be around 2pm EST (1900 UT) November 18,
occured. Those who were able to observe saw far fewer meteors than
expected, and even fewer than the previous night.
Two NASA aircraft flying over the Sea of Japan during the
predicted peak only recorded 144 meteors in a one-hour period shortly
after the predicted peak, far more than typical during the Leonids but
considerably less than estimates of up to 2,000 meteors per hour.
Other data collected closer to the peak, but yet to be reported, may
provide higher rates.
"While it wasn't what we anticipated, it was a great
opportunity for our science team to further develop our predictive
model," said Richard Worsfold, part of a Canadian team observing the
Leonids from Australia.
However, observers in Europe and the Canary Islands, off the
northwest coast of Africa, reported much higher than expected meteor
rates, in excess of several hundred per hour. Rates of over 100
meteors an hour were also reported in regions of North America.
<P>The UK's Royal Astronomical Society estimated that the peak of the
storm took place around 1 am EST (0600 UT) November 17, while the
storm was visible over the Atlantic Ocean.
Astronomers at an observatory on the Canary Islands reported
seeing several meteors a second at the peak. "The number of bright
meteors is astounding," Alan Fitzsimmons, an astronomer with Queen's
University Belfast, working at La Palma Observatory on the Canaries,
reported. "We are approaching one meteor per second and the rate
still seems to be increasing," he wrote before twilight obscured the
meteors.
The storm also did not appear to damage any orbiting
spacecraft, according to reports by NASA and other agencies. Most
satellites had taken measures to protect themselves from the expected
storm, and those efforts, along with the weaker-than-predicted storm,
paid off.
"Operators took the necessary steps to minimize the risk posed
by the Leonid meteor storm and came through with flying colors," said
Clayton Mowry, director of the Satellite Industry Association.
The Leonids, normally a mild meteor shower than generates
40-60 meteors an hour during its annual peak November 17 and 18,
generates a heavy "storm" of meteors about every 33 years. Comet
Tempel-Tuttle, the source for the Leonids, orbits the Sun every 33
years and passed through the solar system earlier this year.
In the last Leonids storm, in 1966, observers reported seeing
up to 144,000 meteors an hour -- 40 per second. No one predicted as
heavy a storm for 1998, with most calling for around 2,000 meteors an
hour.
The Leonids could still produce a heavy storm in 1999 or even
2000, depending on the distribution of meteoroids in the comet's
orbit. Future heavy storms after 2000 are unlikely for at least 100
years, however, as the comet's orbit will be altered by a close pass
to Jupiter in 2029.
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews - December 1998 [3/13]
Привет всем!
Вот, свалилось из Internet...
NASA Releases Plans to Commercialize Space Station
NASA released a draft plan this week to promote the
commercialization of the International Space Station (ISS) as a way to
reduce NASA's costs and encourage other commercial space development.
The long term of the plan is "to establish the foundation for
a marketplace and stimulate a national economy for space products and
services in low-Earth orbit, where both demand and supply are
dominated by the private sector."
In the short term, NASA should work with private industry to
establish several "pathfinder" commercial projects that involve the
ISS, ranging from sponsorship and advertising opportunities to selling
imagery and other proprietary proposals.
The plan divides commercial opportunities into three sections:
known commercial users, such as material science and remote sensing;
operations, including flight control and logistics; and adding new
resources, such as free flyers and modules.
Several specific proposals cited in a portion of the draft
report include commercial sponsorship of portions of the station, in a
model similar to that used by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) to
help fund its programming. In a similar vein, the report also
suggests flying commercial memorabilia to and from ISS for later sale.
Other proposals include the sale of imagery of the Earth from
ISS, auctions of payload space, and setting up a commercial service to
fly educational payloads on the station.
Several other proprietary proposals, currently in negotation
in private industry, were briefly outlined. They include providing an
on-orbit research facility and supporting ground operations.
The report also outlined a number of other follow-up studies
that should be carried out. The plans suggests that a
non-governmental organization be created to ovsersee the American
utilization and development of the space station.
The plan was warmly received by those who have normally been
critical of NASA's efforts. "The old plan for running ISS was a
disaster for opening space to the people and exploring the solar
system," said Rick Tumlinson, president of the Space Frontier
Foundation. "We are glad to see they decided to bring in the private
sector to do what it does best, so NASA can go do what it does best,
science and exploration. This is great news."
Australian Senate Debates Commercial Space Bill
The Australian Senate continued debate late last week on
legislation that would establish regulations for commercial space
activities in the country.
Senators considered a number of potential amendments to the
Space Activities Bill of 1998 during debate Thursday, November 26, but
defeated most of the amendments, including one that would have greatly
increased the liability period for Australian-launched spacecraft.
The amendment, proposed by Senaor Natasha Stott Despoja of the
Australian Democrats party, would have extended the liability period
for a satellite launch from 30 days after launch to the lifetime of
the satellite.
Senator Nicholas Minchin, the Minister for Industry, Science,
and Resources, noted that the 30-day period was a standard in other
countries, including the United States. "There is a real risk that an
amendment like this would render the space industry stillborn," he
said, "and that we would be so unattractive a place to engage in
launches that people would simply go elsewhere."
The proposed amendment was voted down, along with another
amendment that would have explicitly specified that any launch
facility would have to meet with approval with existing Aboriginal
laws. Minchin noted that the second amendment was unnecessary since
existing laws are sufficient.
Senators did approve an amendment that would require any
launch facility to abide by existing environmental laws. They also
approved an amendment that requires anyone seeking a license to build
and operate a launch facility have sufficient funding to carry out the
plan, and that the proposed facility would not be a threat to public
health and safety.
Senators from Australia's smaller political parties criticized
Minchin's ruling Liberal party and the opposition Labor party for
trying to push through the bill quickly, without giving them time to
review all the proposed amendments, although they said they were in
principle not opposed to the bill.
"I remind the space cadets here that what the Greens and
Democrats are saying is that, if we have space activities, we want
well-regulated and safe space activities," said Sen. Dee Margetts, a
member of the Greens of Western Australia party.
"We do regard this bill as urgent," Minchin said. "One of the
reasons we regard this as urgent legislation is to enable the Kistler
project to proceed within the framework of the legislation."
The American firm Kistler Aerospace is building a launch site
at Woomera in South Australia for its K-1 reusable launch vehicle.
Without existing laws regarding commercial space projects, the
Australian government reached a separate agreement with Kistler. The
agreement would remain in effect even if the bill is approved, but
some provisions of the bill, including accident investigations and
penalty provisions, would affect Kistler.
The bill, introduced in the Senate earlier in November, would
create regulations for securing licenses for commercial launches from
Australian sites, as well as licenses for the return of reusable
launchers. It also sets insurance requirements for any Australian
launches. It is similar to the recently-approved U.S. Commercial
Space Act of 1998, but seeks to create a new regulatory stucture
rather than modify an existing one.
More action on the bill is expected this week. If approved by
the Senate, the bill would then go to the House of Representatives,
the other branch of the Australian Parliament, for consideration.
Aerospatiale to Build European ISS Vehicle
The French aerospace firm Aerospatiale has signed a contract
with the European Space Agency to build an unmanned resupply and
reboost vehicle for the International Space Station (ISS), the company
announced Wednesday, November 25.
Aerospatiale signed the $470 million contract with ESA to
develop the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), an unmanned vehicle that
will be able to send supplies to the ISS and help raise the station's
orbit.
The ATV is designed to be launched on an Ariane 5 heavy-lift
booster. It will be able to carry 5.5 metric tons of dry cargo,
including food and other supplies, and nearly 1 metric ton of water
and gas. It would dock with the Russian Service Module, and from
there could fire its engines to help raise the station's orbit,
counteracting the drag from the very tenuous atmosphere.
Like the existing Russian Progress cargo spacecraft, who
provide a similar service to the Mir space station, the ATV would also
be used to remove trash from the station. The trash would burn up
with the rest of the spacecraft when it reenters the Earth's
atmosphere.
The first ATV flight is planned for 2003, with eight total
planned for 2003 through 2013.
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews - December 1998 [4/13]
Привет всем!
Вот, свалилось из Internet...
Fourth Time a Charm for Delta Launch
A Delta 2 booster launched a Russian television satellite
Sunday evening, November 22, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, after three
previous launch attempts were scrubbed.
The Delta 2 lifted off at 6:54 pm EST (2354 UT), after a more
than 30-minute delay caused by high upper altitude winds. The booster
carried the Bonum-1 satellite into orbit with no problems reported.
The launch was originally scheduled for Thursday, November 19,
but delayed when a safety rail accidently left in place hindered the
motion of the nozzle of the Delta's main engine. Communication
problems between ground control and the satellite canceled a Friday
night launch attempt, and a faulty fuel sensor postponed a Saturday
night launch.
The rocket launched Bonum-1, a Russian satellite that will
provide 50 channels of direct TV broadcasting to western Russia. The
satellite, built by Hughes and funded by the Russian company Media
Most, is the first private Russian satellite; all previous satellites
had been government efforts.
European Astronomers Discover Nearby Extrasolar Planet
A team of European astronomers, using a new telescope
dedicated to extrasolar planet searches, has discovered a planet
orbiting a nearby double star system, the European Southern
Observatory (ESO) announced Tuesday, November 24.
The planet was discovered around Gliese 86, a star system 35
light-years from the Earth. The planet orbits in a nearly-circular
orbit about 0.11 astronomical units (16.5 million km, 10.2 million
miles) from the star. Astronomers estimate the planet's mass to be at
least 4.9 times that of Jupiter, our solar system's heaviest planet.
The planet's surface temperature would be about 380 degrees C (715
degrees F).
The main star is about 80% as massive and 40% as bright as the
Sun. Previous observations of Gliese 86 show that it is a binary
star, with an unseen companion inferred to exist by spectroscopic
analysis at least 10 AU away. The discovery of a planet in a binary
system like Gliese 86 may provide new data on the stability of planets
in such star systems.
The new extrasolar planet is the second-closest to our solar
system. In June astronomers Geoffrey Marcy and Paul Butler announced
the discovery of a star around Gliese 876, only 15 light-years from
the Earth.
The discovery was made by a team of Swiss astronomers that
includes Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz, who discovered the first
extrasolar planet around a Sun-like star in October 1995, when they
found a planet orbiting 51 Pegasi.
The astronomers used a new telescope, the 1.2-meter (47-inch)
Leonhard Euler telescope, located at the European Southern Observatory
in La Silla, Chile. The telescope, along with a high-resolution
spectrograph, will be used primarily to search for extrasolar planets.
Asteroid "Fossil" May Be Evidence of Dinosaurs' Demise
A tiny piece of rock may be the strongest evidence to date
that an asteroid collided with the Earth 65 million years ago and
wiped out the dinosaurs, a geochemist reported November 19.
In the cover story of the November 19 issue of the journal
Nature, UCLA geochemist Frank Kyte reports that a tiny fragment of
rock buried in meters of sediment under the Pacific Ocean is a "fossil
meteorite" from 65 million years ago.
The meteorite, Kyte said, is likely the remnant of an asteroid
that hit the present-day Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. That impact,
also known as the Chicxulub event, is the leading cause for the
extinction of the dinosaurs and countless other species at the end of
the Cretaceous period.
"That was one of the worst days the Earth had in the last
billion years, and it is important to understand what happened," Kyte
said.
While the meteorite is tiny -- just 2.5 millimeters (0.1
inches) across -- it stood out in the iridium-rich clay in which it
was buried. Like the clay, the meteorite was enriched in iridium. As
the clay layer, known as the K/T boundary, has been seen in other
sites around the world and linked with an impact, Kyte believes the
meteorite is a fragment of Chicxulub impactor.
The meteorite may also settle a debate whether the Chicxulub
impact was caused by am asteroid or a comet. The fragment appears
similar to carbonaceous chrondites, a common class of asteroids, and
less like the porous, fluffy dust thought to exist in comets. "The
fossil meteorite strongly supports the idea that the impactor was an
asteroid and not a comet," Kyte said.
The fact that the fragment exists means the impact took place
at the slower speeds expected from asteroid impacts, and not a comet
impact, which can take place at higher speeds because of the
differences in orbits between asteroids and comets.
Some scientists had advocated a comet impact, since the higher
speed would require a smaller impacting body. A slower asteroid
impact means that the impacting object would likely have been 10-16 km
(6-10 mi.) in diameter, although the discovery of the fossil meteorite
will not help pin down the size of the impactor.
SpaceViews Event Horizon
December 2 NSS's "Property Rights and Commercial Space
Development" meeting, Washington, DC
December 3 Launch of Starsem/Soyuz carrying 4 Globalstar
satellites from Baikonur, Kazakhstan
December 3 Launch of space shuttle Endeavour on STS-88, launch of
the Unity space station module, from Kennedy Space
Center, Florida
December 3 Launch of a Pegasus XL carrying the SWAS astronomy
satellite off the coast from Vandenberg Air Force
Base, California.
December 5 Launch of Ariane 4 carrying the Satmex 5 comsat from
Kourou, French Guiana
December 10 Launch of a Delta 2 carrying the Mars Climate Orbiter
spacecraft, from Cape Canaveral, Florida
December 15 Athena 2 launch of the Ikonos-1 remote sensing
satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
January 3 Launch of a Delta 2 carrying the Mars Polar Lander
spacecraft, from Cape Canaveral, Florida
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews - December 1998 [5/13]
Привет всем!
Вот, свалилось из Internet...
Other News
Galileo, Voyager problems: Two veteran spacecraft suffered glitches
last month. For the second time this year, a problem prevented the
Galileo spacecraft from collecting images and other data during a
close flyby of the Jovian moon Europa, when the spacecraft entered a
"safing mode" twice, on November 21 and 22. The first problem took
place just hours before the spacecraft passed by Europa and prevented
it from taking data. Spacecraft engineers believe the problems are
related to the command and data systems on Galileo, and do not post a
threat to the overall health and safety of the spacecraft. Meanwhile,
Deep Space Network lost contact with Voyager 2 for nearly three days
between November 12-14. Spacecraft controllers were in the process of
uploading commands to turn off Voyager 2's scan platform, a section of
the spacecraft where several instruments no longer used are located,
to conserve power. After contact was restored controllers found the
platform had been turned off as planned. The cause of the blackout
has not been determined.
HST Gazes Deeply: A new "deep" image of a section of the southern
hemisphere of the sky taken by the Hubble Space Telescope may provide
new insights into the universe, astronomers announced Monday, November
23. The Hubble Deep Field South (HDF-S) is an image of a small region
of the sky near the south celestial pole. It was taken by Hubble over
10 days in October. The HDF-S complements a similar deep image of a
northern hemisphere sky taken in late 1995 by Hubble. The original
Hubble Deep Field proved to be a gold mine for astronomers, letting
them see dim, distant galaxies not otherwise visible.
Beal vs. the Birds: Launch vehicle developer Beal Aerospace may have
run into a new -- and unlikely -- roadblock, according to a BBC
report. Environmentalists are protesting the company's plans to use
Sombrero Island, a small, barren island near Anguilla in the
Caribbean, for launches. The island is a breeding ground for various
species of seabirds, who enjoy the isolated, predator-free island.
Beal, who plans to launch its expendable boosters from the island
starting in 2000, has offered to buy a similar-sized plot of land in
the region to compensate for any loss of bird habitat.
Young, Undressed Stars: Astronomers have seen evidence for supersonic
jets of gas and dust emitted by young stars that have been "undressed"
by more massive nearby stars, information that may shape our
understanding of conditions in the early solar system. The jets,
billions of kilometers long, are emitted at speeds up to 500
kilometers a second (300 miles a second) from stars in the Orion
Nebula, according to work published in the November 26 issue of
Nature. Such observations could have implications for planetary
systems, especially since the Sun may have once been like those "naked
stars" observed. "A key question is whether these naked stars will
produce solar or planetary systems given the powerful radiation from
the nearby massive stars," John Bally of the University of Colorado
said.
In Brief: The European Space Agency is looking at an unusual way to
fund the Beagle 2 lander that will fly on the 2003 Mars Express
mission: advertising. ESA hopes to raise $75 million -- more than the
cost of the lander itself -- selling advertising, possibly on two
balloons that will be used to slow the lander down when it enters the
Martian atmosphere. It would be the first time advertising was
displayed on another planet... A Russia television station collected a
wide range of suggestions for the name of the International Space
Station in a recent poll. While the most popular name was
"Starovoitova", after a recently-slain Russian legislator, other names
spanned the range from the noble ("Galileo" and "Columbus") to the
bizarre ("Mommy"). Those who selected "Babylon", though, should note
that, according to the science-fiction series, Babylons 1 through 3
were destroyed...
*** Articles ***
The Talking Atlas
by Andrew J. LePage
Introduction
While Soviet engineers used the R-7 ICBM to launch their first
Sputniks, the first American satellite launch vehicles were based on
re-engineered versions of small scientific rockets, and later, short
range military missiles like the Redstone, Jupiter and Thor. At the
dawn of the Space Age, the bulk of the America's aeronautical
engineering resources were being poured into the development of ICBMs.
This was in response to President Eisenhower's policy that separated
the ICBM and satellite efforts so that the latter would not interfere
with the former. As a result, initial development of American
satellite carrier rockets lagged.
But during 1958 things changed radically. The Soviet Union's
early lead in the Space Race and the public's reaction resulted in a
reevaluation of priorities. Policy makers decided that ICBM
development would continue unabated with the goal of deploying a
viable weapon at the earliest possible date to counter the perceived
Soviet threat. But now these rockets were also to be seriously
considered as the basis of satellite launch vehicles far larger than
those used to launch the first American space payloads. However until
the ICBM test programs were completed and production could be
increased to meet an expanded demand, satellite launches using these
larger rockets could only proceed when surplus hardware was available.
Because of its advance state of development, the Atlas would be the
first American ICBM pressed into service as a launch vehicle.
The Atlas ICBM
The SM-65 Atlas program, which initially went by the name
"Weapon System 107A", began in February of 1954 after it had been
determined that an ICBM was feasible. Because of its early
ICBM-related development work, Convair (which later became part of
General Dynamics) was chosen as the prime contractor for the project
in January of 1955. By June the project was given a "A-1" priority
which placed it first in line for the nation's engineering and
material resources.
Unlike most rockets at the time, the Atlas would not rely on
aircraft-style monocque construction where the propellant tanks and
exterior shell were attached to an internal framework. Instead the
Atlas used the same thin stainless steel structure to act an both the
outer shell and propellant tanks with internal pressure providing the
rigidity needed to keep it from collapsing. This balloon or integral
tank-type structure was successfully tested by Convair on the MX-774
rocket which flew from 1946 to 1948. With a diameter of 3 meters(ten
feet) and a total length of about 24 meters(80 feet), the stainless
steel structure of the Atlas was no thicker than one millimeter (0.04
inches) which resulted in an immense weight savings.
Convair, working together with engineers from Rocketdyne,
devised a brilliant means of shedding excess mass during flight and
greatly increasing the range of the Atlas. After the Atlas had lifted
off and gained sufficient altitude, it would jettison a pair of
booster engines and their supporting structure. Greatly lightened,
the Atlas would continue to accelerate towards its distant target
powered by a single sustainer engine feeding off the remaining
kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants in the tanks. This eliminated
the need of igniting engines at high altitude as would be required in
a conventional multi-stage ICBM design.
But while this innovative stage-and-a-half concept with
integral tanks promised to allow Atlas to attain the USAF's range goal
of 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles), the design departed too much from
the existing rocket engineering paradigm for many. To ease these
concerns, on May 2, 1955 the development of a more conventional,
two-staged ICBM called the SM-68 Titan I was approved just in case
Atlas proved to be a little too innovative.
During the Atlas test program several models were built and
flown from the Eastern Test Range in Florida to evaluate various
systems and allow the design to evolve into a working weapon. The
first model was the Atlas A. It was equipped only with a pair of
booster engines and was meant to test the basic Atlas design during an
abbreviated flight. The first flight occurred on June 11, 1957.
Although Atlas 4A lifted off successfully, it quickly started to
tumble out of control. While the test was unsuccessful, the rocket's
structure withstood the strain of the ordeal before being destroyed by
range safety thus vindicating the strength of its design. The first
successful launch in the series took place on December 17, 1957 when
Atlas 12A flew over the prescribed 800 kilometer (500 mile) range.
When the Atlas A test flight program concluded in March of
1958, there were only three successful flights in eight tries.
Despite the record, enough was learned to move on to the Atlas B.
This rocket would test the entire system from launch to the injection
of a dummy warhead into an intercontinental trajectory. The Atlas B
would use the same MA-2 propulsion system built by Rocketdyne the
operational missile would use. It consisted of a pair of LR89 booster
engines generating 734 kilonewtons (165,000 pounds) of thrust each and
a LR105 sustainer engine with a thrust of 263 kilonewtons (59,000
pounds) yielding a total liftoff thrust of 1,731 kilonewtons (389,000
pounds). The Atlas B would be the largest American rocket yet flown.
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=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews - December 1998 [6/13]
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Project SCORE
While the Atlas program was gearing up for full-range test
flights in 1958, the USAF and ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency)
officials were hoping to use one of the Atlas B test flights to launch
a satellite. The USAF had proposed using the Atlas to launch a
satellite as early as 1955 when the Department of Defense was
considering satellite proposals from the Naval Research Laboratory
(with what would become Vanguard) and the Army Ballistic Missile
Agency (who proposed Project Orbiter). While the USAF proposal was
turned down because of Eisenhower's policy, the Atlas design was still
capable of orbiting a satellite with only minor modifications.
But with the shift in national priorities in early 1958, the
USAF working with ARPA began to secretly move forward to modify an
Atlas B missile to launch a test satellite. For the payload ARPA
turned to the U.S. Army Signal Research and Development Laboratory at
Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. A group headed by George F. Senn proposed
to use the Atlas to launch an experimental UHF communication package
to forward recorded messages and act as a real-time relay. In late
July 1958 ARPA officially approved the Army proposal and Project SCORE
(Signal Communication by Orbiting Relay Experiment) was born.
At the start of the project, the launch date was set for early
November 1958. To avoid conflicts with prelaunch preparations, the
communication payload would have to be ready by the middle of October.
In addition, ground stations would have to be operational and crews
trained by November 1. With only three months until launch, the
experimental communications package would have to rely upon proven,
off-the-shelf systems to meet the tight development schedule.
Because of the performance limitations of a stripped down
Atlas B, the Project SCORE experiment package was limited to a mass of
68 kilograms (150 pounds). Calculations indicated that the Atlas
could loft this payload into an orbit with a perigee of about 160
kilometers (100 miles) and an apogee of between 800 and 1,300
kilometers (500 and 800 miles). With such a relatively high orbit,
real-time communication relay tests could be performed between ground
stations as far as 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) from the satellite.
For the project, four mobile ground stations each consisting
of appropriately equipped army type V-51 vans and a Quad helix
tracking antenna mounted on a searchlight base were established.
These were located at Fort MacArthur, California, Fort Huachuca,
Arizona, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and Fort Stewart, Georgia. They
would all be connected to a control center at the Signal Corps
Laboratory at Fort Monmouth by telephone lines and HF radio.
The SCORE payload itself would consist of a redundant pair of
battery-powered, vacuum tube-based UHF communication packages with a
nominal design life of 21 days. This equipment would be housed in a
cylindrical anodized metal housing at the nose of the missile designed
to keep the temperature in the 4 C to 49 C (40 F to 120 F) range. The
payload would remain attached to the Atlas once in orbit yielding an
impressive total in-orbit mass of 3,970 kilograms (8,750 pounds) -
comparable to the mass of the Soviet's Sputnik 2 with its spent
booster attached.
Each package consisted of a command receiver, a transmitter,
and an endless loop tape recorder. The tape recorder, which was
borrowed from an Army meteorological satellite development program,
used 23 meters (75 feet) of 25 micron (1 mil) thick mylar tape that
was capable of providing four minutes of recording or playback time.
Upon command from the ground, the package would either record or
playback a stored message. Alternatively the system could be
commanded to relay a live message from one ground station or another.
A metallic contact at the end of the tape loop would automatically
switch the system off at the end of the message. To reduce power
consumption, the receiver was turned on for only a quarter of a second
every 2.5 seconds to listen for commands from the ground. In addition
to the experimental communication package, a pair of telemetry beacons
similar to those used by the early Explorer satellites were also
carried.
The Mission
Not unexpectedly, the Project SCORE schedule proved to be a
bit too ambitious and the launch date slipped several weeks. Delays
with Atlas B test flights also contributed to the scheduling problems.
The first Atlas B launch in July of 1958 failed but the second test
flight on August 2 met its goal by flying more than 4,000 kilometers
(2,500 miles) downrange. After three more largely successful test
flights, the Atlas B exceeded its design goal on November 28, 1958
when it flew 9,660 kilometers (6,000 miles). The way was clear to
launch Project SCORE.
When the launch of Atlas 10B with its secret communication
payload took place on the night of December 18, 1958, only a handful
of people knew its true mission. As ground controllers monitored the
quickly ascending Atlas' progress, an apparent "malfunction" occurred
near the end of powered flight. Inexplicably ground computers
monitoring the impact point of the missile eventually told controllers
that there was no impact point. Because of the secrecy surrounding
Project SCORE, not even the ground controllers were aware that there
was no malfunction and that Atlas 10B had instead entered a 177 by
1,480 kilometer (110 by 920 mile) orbit with an inclination of 32.3
degrees and a period of 101.5 minutes.
Once in orbit, the USAF immediately heralded the event making
special note of the nearly four metric ton (8,800 pound) orbital mass
(which consisted almost entirely of the now inert Atlas missile).
While one of the two communication packages failed after the first
orbit when its tape recorder jammed, the backup continued to function
and relayed a recorded Christmas message from President Eisenhower
during the 13th orbit on December 19. With this, Project SCORE's
launch vehicle was dubbed "the talking Atlas" by the press.
During the following 12 days, 28 separate messages were played
back 78 times for a total of 5 hours, 12 minutes of operation. The
Project SCORE experiment also relayed 11 real-time messages for a
total of 43 minutes over distances in excess of 4,800 kilometers
(3,000 miles). An undetermined number of unauthorized recordings and
interrogations were also made from unidentified sites in the Eastern
hemisphere during the mission indicating the need for more secure
command systems in future communication satellites.
The experimental communication package operated until December
30, 1958 when the battery was finally exhausted. Atmospheric drag
brought the now silent Atlas out of orbit on January 21, 1959. While
Project SCORE was to some extent a USAF publicity stunt designed to
garner public support, it did show that a satellite could provide a
much needed communication link between distant sites. It also paved
the way for the Atlas to serve as a launch vehicle for future programs
including Project Mercury.
Bibliography
David Baker, The Rocket, Crown Publishers, Inc. (New York), 1978
S.P Brown and G.F. Senn, "Project SCORE", Proceedings of the IRE, Vol
48, No. 4, pp. 624-630, April 1960
Drew LePage is a physicist and freelance writer specializing in
astronomy and the history of spaceflight. He can be reached at
lepage@visidyne.com
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=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews - December 1998 [7/13]
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Charting the Future of Planetary Science Missions
by Jeff Foust
As planetary scientists from around the world gathered in
Madison, Wisconsin in October for the annual conference of the
Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society,
NASA officials and scientists laid out some newly revised and updated
plans for solar system exploration into the next decade and beyond
that shows that NASA has completed the transition from a few high-cost
science missions to many more low-cost missions.
A highlight of the conference was the release of a new plan
for robotic Mars exploration, which now calls for greater
international cooperation. The plan, as described by Dan McCleese,
chief scientist of JPL's Mars Exploration Directorate, starts as
previously planned, with the launch of Mars Climate Orbiter in
December and the Mars Polar Lander in January 1999.
There will also be orbiter and lander missions for the 2001
launch window. The lander would carry the small "Marie Curie" rover,
a twin of the Sojourner rover, as the larger and more capable Athena
rover will not be ready for the 2001 mission. The Athena rover, or
something similar to it, will be reserved for the 2003 lander.
The new plan begins to sharply diverge from previous plans in
2003. That launch opportunity may feature just one mission, a lander
carrying the Athena rover (the European Space Agency is planning an
orbiter/lander mission, Mars Express, for 2003 as well). The goal of
the rover would be to collect rock and soil samples and return them to
the lander, where a small Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) would launch the
samples into orbit around the planet.
International cooperation will be key to the 2005 missions.
An Ariane 5 booster will launch a French-built orbiter and a NASA
lander and rover. The lander will be similar to the 2003 mission but
will include a drill to collect samples from below the surface. As
before, the lander will collect samples and launch them into orbit.
There the French orbiter will collect the sample caches from both
landers and return them to Earth.
The sequence of missions in 2003 and 2005 could be repeated in
2007-2009 and again in 2011-2013, according to McCleese. The goal is
to get samples from three key regions of Mars: areas of ancient ground
and surface water and possible areas of modern ground water. These
samples, McCleese said, will help scientists understand the geological
and possible biological history of Mars.
The Mars exploration program, funded at about $250-275 million
a year starting in 1999 through at least 2009, will not neglect
planning for any future human missions to Mars. The 2003 mission will
carry experiments to monitor the radiation environment on the surface
and also test for soil toxicity.
Also in the works are "micromissions," small missions of
opportunity that would cost around $20 million and weigh 30-50
kilograms (66-110 lbs.) These spacecraft would be launched as
secondary payloads on Ariane 5 boosters, and then use Earth flybys for
gravity assists to fly to Mars, similar to Japan's Nozomi mission to
Mars. These missions would carry out focused tests that can be
completed by small spacecraft. The first micromissions would fly
early next decade.
Another JPL scientist, Rich Terrile, talked about two other
upcoming high-profile missions, the Europa Orbiter and Pluto/Kuiper
Express, missions "that are almost impossible to do on almost no
budget." Despite the technological and financial hurdles, plans for
both missions as well as a solar probe mission are proceeding well.
The Europa Orbiter mission is currently planned for a November
2003 launch on the space shuttle, depending on the results of a
technology assessment planned in 1999 or 2000. The spacecraft would
fly on a direct trajectory to Jupiter, arriving in about 3 years. It
would then go into a Galileo-type "tour" orbiting Jupiter and using
flybys of the large Galilean moons to adjust its orbit, for up to two
years. Then a three-month "endgame" would put the spacecraft into a
200-km (125-mi.) orbit above Europa, where it would return data for
one month before radiation would irrepairably damage the spacecraft.
The orbital constraints of the mission mean that about
tow-thirds of the mass of the orbiter will be propellant, leaving just
20 kg (44 lbs.) for instruments. The "strawman" payload for the
mission includes a laser altimeter, a camera, an ice-penetrating radar
to search for underground oceans, and tracking of the spacecraft's
radio signal to study Europa's gravitational field.
Shortly after the Europa Orbiter launch would come the
Pluto/Kuiper Express mission to fly by Pluto and one or more Kuiper
Belt objects. The current plan calls for launch in late 2004 on the
shuttle or a Delta 3. The spacecraft would make a gravity-assist
flyby of Jupiter in April 2006 before flying by Pluto in December
2012. A launch by late 2004 is critical, since it would be difficult
to impossible to use the Jupiter gravity-assist flyby after that date.
The 220-kg (485-lbs.) spacecraft would carry just 7 kg (15
lbs.) of science instruments, including a camera, infrared and
ultraviolet spectrometers, as well as radio science using the
spacecraft's antenna. The flyby would take place at a speed of 17-18
km/sec (10.5-11.25 mi./sec), somewhat slower than Voyager 2's flyby of
Neptune's moon Triton in 1989, and data collected during the flyby
would be returned for a year after the flyby.
A third mission, the Solar Probe, would launch in 2007 on a
mission to fly within 4 solar radii (2.8 million kilometers, 1.7
million miles) of the Sun, the closest any spacecraft has approached
the Sun. The spacecraft would use a Jupiter gravity assist to put it
on a polar orbit around the Sun, much like Ulysses, but far closer to
the Sun. A sunshade would protect the spacecraft from the intense
heat of its close solar flybys.
The Europa, Pluto, and solar missions are all tied together by
the use of similar technologies, developed under the "X2000" program,
funded separately from the individual missions. The project overall
is "fairly well funded" according to Terrile, with about $100 million
a year starting in fiscal year 2000.
Not to be forgotten are the Discovery and New Millennium
programs. "We can't say enough good things" about the Discovery
program, said Carl Pilcher of NASA headquarters. And while the
initial projects of the New Millennium program have had problems --
there was concern the full science payload would not make it onto Deep
Space One until a few weeks before launch -- the program is using
lessons learned from the Discovery program for future projects, like
the Deep Space 4 comet sample return mission.
Jeff Foust is editor of SpaceViews.
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=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews - December 1998 [8/13]
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*** Book Reviews ***
by Jeff Foust
Dragonfly: NASA and the Crisis aboard Mir
by Bryan Burrough
HarperCollins, 1998
hardcover, 528pp., illus.
ISBN 0-88730-783-3
US$26.95/C$40.00
The Shuttle-Mir program of dockings and astronaut tours of duty on Mir
was held up as a sign of cooperation between former enemies. Instead,
it deteriorated into a series of near-disasters, with more then enough
recriminations to go around. Even for those who think they know a lot
about what happened on Mir, Bryan Burrough's book "Dragonfly" will
shed a new light on the often-troubled project.
Dragonfly -- a term sometimes used to describe the sprawling, ungainly
appearance of Mir -- provides a remarkable, comprehensive
behind-the-scenes look at the trials and tribulations of the joint
NASA-Russia Mir missions. While the book covers the whole project,
from its inception in the early 1990s to the last shuttle-Mir docking
earlier this year, the focus of the book is on the dramatic events on
Mir in 1997 -- from the fire to the Progress collision, and all the
mechanical breakdowns in between.
The book shows the Mir missions had few heroes and fewer villains,
other than miscommunication, ignorance, egos, and politics. His
descriptions of NASA astronauts and personnel are not the flattering
portraits created by the agencies PR experts: John Blaha was isolated
and depressed on Mir, and was highly dependent on ground personnel and
even his wife; Jerry Linenger was disliked by his Russian crewmates
and even fellow NASA personnel, who saw him as an opportunist, and
David Wolf was a hard-partying person who took a Mir assignment as the
last chance to resuscitate his career. Yet there were those, from
astronaut Mike Foale to unsung works on the ground, who struggled.
ultimately successfully, to keep the project going.
Burrough, who notes in the book that this was the first time he had
covered a space topic since the Challenger accident, does a masterful
job. There are very few obvious errors in the book (an occasional
typo or two) and Burrough weaves a compelling story. For anyone
interested in what went on out of public view during the Shuttle-Mir
program, and the lessons learned -- or ignored -- during this program
may shape the ultimate fate of the International Space Station,
"Dragonfly" is highly recommended.
The Moon Book
by Kim Long
Johnson Books, 1998
softcover, 148pp., illus.
ISBN 1-55566-230-7
US$12.50
Ever wonder why the Moon rises and sets at varying times from day to
day and month to month? If so, you may be interested in Kim Long's
"The Moon Book", which takes a look at this and a number of related
aspects of our nearest neighbor in space.
The book takes a detailed look at the observational aspects of the
Moon, from changes in phases and rise/set times to less well-known
features like libration (which enables us to see a little more than
half of the Moon) to patterns in its orbit. In addition, the book
explores some of the history and folklore surrounding the Moon,
including names for full Moons in different cultures.
One area the book falls down in, though, is the science of the Moon.
Only a few pages are dedicated to discussion about the origin and
nature of the Moon; the recent discovery of possible deposits of ice
at the lunar poles gets just a couple sentences. This stands out as
an omission mainly because the author goes into great detail in other
areas, like observations and folklore. Otherwise, "The Moon Book" is
a good, concise reference about many key aspects of the Moon.
Rocket Boys: A Memoir
by Homer H. Hickam, Jr.
Delacorte Press, 1998
hardcover, 368pp.
ISBN 0-385-33320-X
US$23.95/C$32.95
In the fall of 1957, the launch of Sputnik electrified the United
States. That was true even in the small, isolated town of Coalwood,
West Virginia, where outside events were rarely favored as topics of
discussion over local gossip. It also grabbed the intention of Homer
Hickam, Jr., younger son of the local coal mine supervisor, who
announced out of the blue his intention to build a rocket. Homer's
efforts to build rockets, and the effect on his community, is the
subject of his memoir "Rocket Boys".
The book is a story of the intertwined struggles of building rockets
with a set of friends -- the rocket boys, as they were known -- and
those of a teenager coming of age. The tragedy and triumph that
follows in the three years after Sputnik makes for an engrossing
story. The book doesn't deal directly with space, although there are
cameo appearances by Wehrner von Braun and presidential candidate John
F. Kennedy, and Hickam does eventually realize his dream of working
for NASA. However, it's a great story about how the events of space
can have an impact on the affairs of man.
*** NSS News ***
Upcoming Boston NSS Events
Thursday, December 3, 7:30pm
"The Overview Effect"
by Frank White
Frank White, author of "The Overview Effect" will be giving
a talk and doing a book signing! The 2nd edition of his book has
been released and he will be talking about the changes in the world
and in the space movement/space program since the publishing of the
first edition in 1987.
Unless otherwise specified, Boston NSS Meetings are held on the first
Thursdays of every month at 545 Main Street (Technology Square), 8th
floor, Cambridge, near the Kendall/MIT stop on the Red Line. Free
parking is available.
check the Boston NSS Web site (http://www.spaceviews.com/boston/) for
more information about these upcoming speakers.
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=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews - December 1998 [9/13]
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NSS Election Results
by Lauri Zeman, NSS Secretary
The NSS officer, advisor, and governor election is officially
completed. The officers, advisors, and governors elected are shown
below. Four motions were passed to waive the requirement to serve one
year on the board prior to election as an officer. Those waivers were
for Ausmann, Brandenstein, Pancratz, and Whitebread.
Number of board members voting--24.
Board members who did not vote--Aldrin, Borowski, Gounley, Hopkins,
Redfield, Worden, Zsidisin, Zubrin. (Note--Redfield and Worden voted
on the three waiver motions sent out by email but not on the remainder
of the election.)
Officers
President--Dan Brandenstein
Chairman of the Executive Committee--Kirby Ikin
Chairman of the Board of Directors--Buzz Aldrin
Chairman of the Board of Governors--Hugh Downs
Executive Vice President--Gordon Woodcock
Senior Vice President--Robert Zubrin
Vice President of Fundraising--Greg Rucker
Vice President of Chapters--Greg Allison
Vice President of Membership--Jeffrey Liss
Vice President of Public Affairs--Karen Mermel
Treasurer--Joe Redfield
Secretary--Lauri Zeman
Assistant Treasurer--Joe Ausmann
Assistant Secretary--Christopher Pancratz
General Counsel--Joe Whitebread
Board of Advisors
Jim Bennett
C. J. Cherryh
David Criswell
Jerry Grey
Joe Haldeman
Eleanor Helin
Mark Holthaus
Barbara Marx Hubbard
Margaret Jordan
Ronnie LaJoie
Carol Lane
Florence Nelson
Scott Pace
Stanley G. Rosen
Stanley Schmidt
Board of Governors
Mark Albrecht
Robert Allnutt
Norm Augustine
Alan Binder
Frank Borman
Ben Bova
Bruce Boxleitner
George E. Brown, Jr.
Gerald P. Carr
Sir Arthur C. Clarke
Michael Collins
Michael DeBakey
Hugh Downs
K. Eric Drexler
Freeman Dyson
Edward R. Finch
Aaron Freeman
Don Fuqua
Newt Gingrich
Peter Glaser
John Glenn
Slade Gorton
Tom Hanks
Bob Hope
S. Neil Hosenball
Robert Jastrow
John Johnson
Irving Kahn
Arthur Kantrowitz
John Lewis
John M. Logsdon
James Lovell
Robert McCall
Harold W. McGraw, Jr.
Hans Mark
Marvin Minsky
Kenneth Money
Frank Moss
Nichelle Nichols
Jack Olson
Frederick I. Ordway III
Bill Pogue
Majel Barrett Roddenberry
Neil Ruzic
Harrison Schmitt
Frederick Seitz
John B. Slaughter
James A. Van Allen
Maria von Braun
Glen P. Wilson
James B. Wyeth
*** Features ***
Jonathan's Space Report
by Jonathan McDowell
[Ed. Note: Go to http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/jsr/jsr.html for
back issues and other information about Jonathan's Space Report.]
Note: I've updated the launch log files at
http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/log/
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=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews - December 1998 [10/13]
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Shuttle and Station
The International Space Station era has begun. The launch of the Zarya
module was successful on Nov 20 at 0640 UTC. Zarya is the first element
of the International Space Station. It was funded by the US and built by
Krunichev in Moscow, and will be controlled by RKA/Energiya in Korolev.
Krunichev built it under a subcontract from Boeing for NASA, so I
imagine that formally NASA is the owner but RKA is the operator.
The Zarya derives its design from the TKS spaceship and the 77KS Mir
side modules. Zarya is the Funktional'no-Gruzovoy Blok (FGB), serial
77KM No 175-01. It includes a multiple docking adapter, a pressurised
cabin section, and a propulsion/instrument section with a rear docking
port. Zarya was launched by a three stage Proton-K (8K82K) rocket,
serial 395-01, from pad 81L at 5-GIK (the Baykonur cosmodrome). The
third stage and Zarya reached orbit 9 min after takeoff. Initial orbit
was 176 x 343 km x 51.6 deg. By Nov 25 it had maneuvered to a 383 x 396
km x 51.7 deg orbit, awaiting the launch of Shuttle mission STS-88 which
will dock the Unity node to it.
Launches of spacecraft in the TKS/77KS series:
TKS Mockup 1976 Dec 15 (with Kosmos-881/882)
TKS No. 161-01 1977 Jul 17 Kosmos-929, TKS test flight
TKS Mockup 1977 Aug 5 (launch failure)
TKS Mockup 1978 Mar 30 (with Kosmos-997/998)
TKS Mockup 1979 May 22 (with Kosmos-1100/1101)
TKS No. 163-01 1981 Apr 25 Kosmos-1267, TKS test docked with Salyut-6
TKS-M No. 164-01 1983 Mar 2 Kosmos-1443, TKS test docked with Salyut-7
TKS-M No. 165-01 1985 Sep 27 Kosmos-1686, module docked with Salyut-7
FSB No. 166-01 1987 Mar 31 Propulsion unit for Kvant module
FSB No. 162-01 1987 May 15 Propulsion unit for Skif-DM payload
TsM-D No. 171-01 1989 Nov 26 Kvant-2, docked with Mir
TsM-T No. 172-01 1990 May 31 Kristall, docked with Mir
TsM-O No. 173-01 1995 May 20 Spektr, docked with Mir
TsM-I No. 174-01 1996 Apr 23 Priroda, docked with Mir
FGB No. 175-01 1998 Nov 20 Zarya, ISS first element
USM No. 176-01 Under construction as ISS docking module
Meanwhile, Space Shuttle OV-105 Endeavour is on the launch pad ready for
mission STS-88 on Dec 3. Crew of STS-88 are: Commander - Col. Robert
Cabana, USMC, NASA chief astronaut Pilot - Maj. Frederick Sturckow,
USMC/NASA Mission Specialists: Col. Jerry Ross, USAF/NASA, Maj. Nancy
Currie, USA/NASA, Dr. James Newman, NASA, and Sergei Krikalyov, RKA. The
payload bay contains the following cargo:
Sill: RMS arm No. 303
Bay 1-2: Tunnel Adapter 002
Bay 3-4: Orbiter Docking System/External Airlock (Boeing/Palmdale)
Bay 7-13: Unity (Node 1) (Boeing/Huntsville)
PMA-1 docking adapter (Boeing/Huntingdon Beach),
PMA-2 docking adapter (Boeing/Huntingdon Beach)
Bay 2 Port: GABA adapter with SAC-A satellite
Bay 4 Port: Carrier with PFR spacewalk restraint
Bay 4 Stbd: Carrier with Cable Caddy for spacewalks
Bay 5? Stbd: Carrier with PFR spacewalk restraint
Bay 6 Port: GABA adapter with Mightysat
Bay 6? Stbd: Carrier with two TCS laser rendevous sensors
Bay 13 Port: GABA adapter with SEM-7 and G-093 canisters
Bay 13 Stbd: GABA adapter with IMAX Cargo Bay Camera
The PMA-1 and PMA-2 adapters are detachable from Unity, but launched
installed. Endeavour will unberth Unity from the bay using the RMS arm,
and dock PMA-2 to the Orbiter Docking System. After rendezvous, the
axial +Y port of Zarya will be attached to PMA-1. PMA-2 will be used as
ISS's main Shuttle docking port; it will be moved from Unity to the Lab
module when that is launched.
The SAC-A satellite is an Argentine payload which carries an
experimental remote sensing camera and a marine life science experiment
consisting of a GPS receiver which will track signals from a
GPS-equipped whale (yes, a whale). The 60 kg satellite was build by
INVAP of Bariloche for CONAE, the Argentine space agency. It will be
ejected from an HMDA canister in the payload bay.
Mightysat is a small satellite with a mass of about 70 kg, built by
Orbital Sciences/McLean. It carries a suite of technology experiments
for USAF Phillips Lab. Mightysat and SAC-A share a Hitchhiker avionics
box. SEM-7 is a canister with high school experiments; G-093 has a
physics experiment for the U. of Michigan.
The ISS overview press kit shows a cargo bay view with the 'AMTEC/AWCS'
experiments where SEM-7/G-093 should be; in fact, AMTEC and AWCS are
technology experiments on the Mightysat payload, although it's not clear
if they are mounted on the subsatellite or remain attached to the
Shuttle. The new, "improved" (sic) STS press kits themselves have no
graphics of the payloads, so I'm not sure of the details of the EVA
equipment.
Mir
Padalka and Avdeev made a spacewalk from the Kvant-2 airlock on the Mir
complex on Nov 10-11. Hatch open was Nov 10 1924 UTC and hatch closed
was Nov 11 0118 UTC according to C. van den Berg. They installed a
meteorite detector in preparation for the Leonid shower, and
hand-launched the Spoutnik-41 amateur-radio minisatellite at around 1930
UTC (anyone have a better time?). Spoutnik-41 (Spoutnik is the French
spelling) is a scale model of the first satellite, PS-1, launched 41
years ago. It carries a small transmitter, and is also designated RS-18.
A similar model was launched last year. Sponsors of the satellite are
Aero Club de France, AMSAT-France, and the Astronautical Federation of
Russia.
On that occasion, two flight models were carried to Mir but only one was
launched. The second Spoutnik-40 flight model is still aboard Mir. The
recent Progress flight carried up yet a third satellite with an improved
electronics module. (There was earlier some confusion about whether the
RS-18 satellite was a new satellite or was the one stored on Mir since
last year; Bernard Pidoux confirms Spoutnik-41 is an entirely new
satellite, and the plan to just swap out the electronics module on the
other one was abandoned). The second Spoutnik-40 may still be deployed
next year. Four other objects from the EVA are being tracked by Space
Command.
STS-93/AXAF
The solid rocket boosters for mission STS-93 have been stacked
on mobile launch plaform MLP-1 in the VAB. The AXAF telescope
payload is still in California; launch of STS-93 is now expected
in March.
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews - December 1998 [11/13]
Привет всем!
Вот, свалилось из Internet...
Recent Launches
The BONUM-1 satellite was successfully launched by a Boeing Delta 2 on
Nov 22. BONUM-1 is a Hughes HS-376HP communications satellite with a
Thiokol Star 30 solid apogee motor. The satellite will provide domestic
Russian communications for Media Most, a Moscow-based television and
media conglomerate, broadcasting 50 channels to western Russia from a
position at 36 deg E. Mass is 1426 kg at launch, around 630 kg dry. The
HS-376HP is small by today's standards and carries just 8 Ku-band
transponders. The Delta 7925-9.5 launch vehicle entered a 157 x 189 km
x 29.2 deg parking orbit ten minutes after launch. Two further burns of
the second stage raised the orbit to 159 x 1304 km and then 1228 x 1683
km x 26.7 deg. The Thiokol Star 48B solid third stage then boosted
BONUM-1 to a 1285 x 36703 km x 19.5 deg geostationary transfer orbit
while the second stage made a final depletion burn to lower its orbit to
274 x 1552 km x 25.6 deg, making sure it will reenter quickly.
Deep Space 1, in solar orbit, successfully started its ion drive on Nov
24. An initial attempt failed after four minutes on Nov 10. This is the
first time ion propulsion has been used as the primary propulsion
on a spacecraft.
Below is a list of spacecraft thought to have tested electric propulsion
systems. I haven't done a proper study of this subject, so this list is
incomplete and may have errors - perhaps someone can come up with a
better one. It is intended to include ion thrusters, pulsed plasma
thrusters and Hall effect thrusters, but exclude the lower efficiency
arcjets. The Russians report 15 flights of stationary Hall plasma
thrusters since 1971. The XIPS is an 8-cm ion thruster; NSTAR is a 30-cm
one. All systems prior to this year were used for experiments only, or
for fine orbit control and maintenance. What's new is that DS1 and STEX
will actually use their systems for major orbit changes.
1964 Jul 20 SERT (NASA) 30 minute test, suborbital
1964 Aug 29 661A Flight 21-2 (USAF) Suborbital
1964 Dec 21 661A Flight 21-3 (USAF) Suborbital
1965 Apr 3 SNAPSHOT (USAF) (telemetry failed)
1965 Jul 18 3MV-4 No. 3 Test in solar orbit? (USSR)
1968 Aug 10 ATS 4
1969 Aug 12 ATS 5
1970 Feb 4 SERT-2 (NASA) Two thrusters, operated until 1980
1972 Feb 2 Meteor Plasma engine
1974 May 30 ATS 6 Cs ion engine test
1974 Jul 9 Meteor-Priroda 1 Plasma engine
1975 Oct 12 TIP 2 Pulsed plasma thruster
1976 Mar 15 LES-8/LES-9 Pulsed plasma thrusters
1976 Sep 1 TIP 3 Pulsed plasma thruster
1981 Feb 11 ETS-4 (NASDA) Ion thruster
1981 May 15 Nova 1 Pulsed plasma thruster
1984 Oct 12 Nova 3 Pulsed plasma thruster
1987 Feb 1 Kosmos-1818 Plasma-1 SPT
1987 Jul 10 Kosmos-1867 Plasma-2 SPT
1988 Jun 16 Nova 2 Pulsed plasma thruster
1994 Jan 20 Gals 11 SPT-100 plasma thruster
1994 Aug 28 ETS-6 (NASDA) Ion thrusters for NSSK
1995 Nov 17 Gals 12 SPT-100 plasma thruster
1997 Aug 28 PAS 5 HS-601 XIPS for NSSK
1997 Dec 8 Galaxy 8i HS-601 XIPS for NSSK
1998 Aug 30 Astra 2A HS-601 XIPS for NSSK
1998 Oct 3 STEX TAL-D55 plasma thruster
Table of Recent Launches
Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
DES.
Oct 3 1004 STEX ) ARPA Taurus Vandenberg 576E Technol. 55A
ATEX )
Oct 5 2251 Eutelsat W2 ) Ariane 44L Kourou ELA2 Comsat 56A
Sirius 3 ) Comsat 56B
Oct 9 2250 Hot Bird 5 Atlas IIA Canaveral SLC36B Comsat 57A
Oct 20 0719 UHF F/O F9 Atlas IIA Canaveral SLC36A Comsat 58A
Oct 21 1637 ARD ) Ariane 5 Kourou ELA3 Technol.
Maqsat 3) Technol. 59A
Oct 23 0002 SCD-2 Pegasus Canaveral RW02/20 Rem.Sens. 60A
Oct 24 1208 Deep Space 1) Delta 7326 Canaveral SLC17A Probe 61A
SEDSAT 1 ) Amateur 61B
Oct 25 0414 Progress M-40 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 62A
Oct 28 2216 Afristar ) Ariane 44L Kourou ELA2 Radio com 63A
GE 5 ) Comsat 63B
Oct 29 1919 Discovery ) Shuttle Kennedy LC39B Spaceship 64A
Spacehab ) Laboratory 64A
Oct 30 1845 PANSAT - Discovery, LEO Test sat 64B
Nov 1 1703 Spartan 201 - Discovery, LEO Astronomy 64C
Nov 4 0512 PAS 8 Proton-K/DM3 Baykonur Comsat 65A
Nov 6 1337 Iridium 2) Delta 7920-10C Vandenberg SLC2W Comsat 66A
Iridium 83) Comsat 66E
Iridium 84) Comsat 66D
Iridium 85) Comsat 66C
Iridium 86) Comsat 66B
Nov 10 1930? Spoutnik-41 - Mir, LEO Amateur 62C
Nov 20 0640 Zarya Proton-K Baykonur LC81L Station 67A
Nov 22 2354 BONUM-1 Delta 7925 Canaveral SLC17B Comsat 68A
Current Shuttle Processing Status
_________________________________
Orbiters Location Mission Launch Due
OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 3 STS-93 Mar 1999
OV-103 Discovery OPF Bay 1 STS-96 May 1999
OV-104 Atlantis OPF Bay 2 STS-101 Aug 1999
OV-105 Endeavour LC39A STS-88 Dec 3
MLP1/RSRM-69 VAB Bay 1 STS-93
MLP2/
MLP3/RSRM-67/ET-97/OV-105 LC39A STS-88
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews - December 1998 [12/13]
Привет всем!
Вот, свалилось из Internet...
Space Calendar
by Ron Baalke
[Ed. Note: visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/ for the
complete calendar]
December 1998
Dec 01-03 - Origin of the Earth & Moon Conference, Monterey,
California
Dec 01-03 - 5th ESA Workshop On Advanced Space Technologies for
Robotics and Automation, Noordwijk, The Netherlands
Dec 02 - SWAS (Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite) Pegasus XL
Launch
Dec 02 - Asteroid 4268 Grebenikov Closest Approach To Earth (1.195 AU)
Dec 02 - Asteroid 6877 Giada Closest Approach To Earth (1.346 AU)
Dec 02 - Kuiper Belt Object YY3 at Opposition (29.786 AU - 23.3
Magnitude)
Dec 02 - Mercury at Perihelion
Dec 02 - Workshop On Exploiting The Opportunities Of Space, Vienna,
Austria
Dec 02 - 10th Anniversary (1988), STS-27 Launch (Atlantis), DOD
Classified Mission
Dec 02 - 5th Anniversary (1993), STS-61 Launch (Endeavour), 1st Hubble
Space Telescope Servicing Mission
Dec 03 - STS-88 Launch, Endeavour, 1st Space Station Assembly Flight
Dec 03 - Globalstar Soyuz Launch
Dec 03 - Cassini, Deep Space Maneuver (TCM-5)
Dec 03-04 - 3rd Annual AGN Workshop, Canberra, Australia
Dec 04 - SATMEX 5 Ariane 4 Launch
Dec 04 - Venus Occults 185332 (7.8 Magnitude Star)
Dec 04 - Asteroid 1866 Sisypus Near-Earth Flyby (0.338 AU)
Dec 04 - Asteroid 8507 (1991 CB1) Closest Approach To Earth (1.155 AU)
Dec 04 - Asteroid 7172 Multatuli Closest Approach To Earth (1.339 AU)
Dec 04 - Asteroid 2915 Moskvina Closest Approach To Earth (1.530 AU)
Dec 04 - Gravity Wave Lecture, Greenbelt, Maryland
Dec 04 - 20th Anniversary (1978), Pioneer Venus, Venus Orbit Insertion
Dec 04-06 - International Symposium On Solid State Detectors For The
21st Century, Nara, Japan
Dec 05 - Asteroid 1998 WB2 Near-Earth Flyby (0.017 AU)
Dec 05 - Cassini Educators Workshop, Pasadena, California
Dec 05 - 25th Anniversary (1973), Pioneer 10, (Jupiter Flyby
Dec 05-07 -[Nov 28] Australian Space Research 8th Annual Conference,
North Adelaide, Australia
Dec 06 - Asteroid 3362 Khufu Near-Earth Flyby (0.364 AU)
Dec 06 - Asteroid 7543 Prylis Closest Approach To Earth (3.911 AU)
Dec 06 - 40th Anniversary (1958), Pioneer 3 Launch (Moon Flyby
Mission)
Dec 06-10 - American Geophysical Union (AGU) 1998 Fall Meeting, San
Francisco, California
Dec 07 - Cassini at Aphelion (1.58 AU)
Dec 07 - Comet Lovas 1 Closest Approach To Earth (0.870 AU)
Dec 07 - Asteroid 1998 VD31 Near-Earth Flyby (0.151 AU)
Dec 07 - Asteroid 1998 WM Closest Approach To Earth (0.546 AU)
Dec 07 - Asteroid 1998 WO7 Closest Approach To Earth (0.609 AU)
Dec 08 - Asteroid 1985 UJ Closest Approach To Earth (0.922 AU)
Dec 08 - Asteroid 1994 SE Closest Approach To Earth (1.379 AU)
Dec 09 - Asteroid 6524 Baalke at Opposition (1.251 AU - 15.0
Magnitude)
Dec 09 - 20th Anniversary (1978), Pioneer Venus 2 Landing on Venus
Dec 09-11 - Conference On Cosmological Contraints On X-Ray Clusters,
Strasbourg, France
Dec 10 - Mars Climate Orbiter Delta 2 Launch (Mars Orbiter)
Dec 10 - Asteroid 6054 Ghiberti Closest Approach To Earth (1.550 AU)
Dec 10 - Asteroid 1916 Boreas Closest Approach To Earth (1.687 AU)
Dec 11 - Asteroid 52 Europa at Opposition (10.2 Magnitude)
Dec 11 - Asteroid 245 Vera Occults SAO 77824 (10.2 Magnitude Star)
Dec 11 - Asteroid 3122 Florence Closest Approach to Earth (1.092 AU)
Dec 11 - Asteroid 3772 Piaf Closest Approach To Earth (2.191 AU)
Dec 12 - Tempo 1 Proton Launch (Russia)
Dec 12 - Asteroid 7480 Norwan Near-Earth Flyby (0.360 AU)
Dec 12 - Kuiper Belt Object 1995 WY2 at Opposition (46.432 AU - 23.7
Magnitude)
Dec 13 - ICO Atlas 2AS Launch
Dec 13 - Geminids Meteor Shower Peak
Dec 13 - Comet C/1998 W1 (Spahr) Closest Approach To Earth (0.846 AU)
Dec 13 - Asteroid 6318 Cronkite Closest Approach To Earth (0.588 AU)
Dec 13 - Asteroid 6326 (1991 FJ1) Closest Approach To Earth (1.451 AU)
Dec 14 - Asteroid 1998 WZ1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.132 AU)
Dec 14 - Asteroid 4957 Brucemurray Closest Approach to Earth (0.718
AU)
Dec 14 - Asteroid 3288 Seleucus Closest Approach To Earth (1.439 AU)
Dec 14 - Cosmology Topology In Paris, Paris, France
Dec 14-18 - 19th Texas Symposium On Relativistic Astrophysics, Paris,
France
Dec 15 - Panamsat-6B Ariane 4 Launch
Dec 15 - IKONOS-1 Athena 2 Launch
Dec 15 - Asteroid 4450 Pan Closest Approach To Earth (1.230 AU)
Dec 16 - Asteroid 5189 (1990 UQ) Closest Approach To Earth (1.163 AU)
Dec 17 - LORAL Atlas 2 Launch
Dec 17 - Asteroid 5402 Kejosmith Closest Approach To Earth (1.021 AU)
Dec 17 - Galileo Europa Mission Lecture, Pasadena, California
Dec 17 - 95th Anniversary (1903), Wright Brothers' 1st Airplane Flight
Dec 18 - Nozomi (Planet-B), 2nd Moon Flyby
Dec 18 - DSP Titan 4B Launch
Dec 18 - Asteroid 1993 RR2 Closest Approach To Earth (2.268 AU)
Dec 18 - Galileo Europa Mission Lecture, Pasadena, California
Dec 18 - 5th Anniversary (1993), Thaicom 1 Launch (1st Thailand
Satellite)
Dec 18 - 40th Anniversary (1958), Score Launch (1st Telecommunication
Satellite)
Dec 19 - Asteroid 1998 WQ5 Closest Approach To Earth (1.045 AU)
Dec 19 - Asteroid 6985 (1994 UF2) Closest Approach To Earth (1.226 AU)
Dec 19 - Asteroid 7202 (1995 DX1) Closest Approach To Earth (1.541 AU)
Dec 19 - Asteroid 6979 Shigefumi Closest Approach To Earth (1.860 AU)
Dec 19 - Asteroid 4559 Strauss Closest Approach To Earth (2.013 AU)
Dec 20 - NEAR, 1st Eros Rendezvous Braking Maneuver (RND-1)
Dec 20 - Nozomi (Planet-B), Earth Gravity Assist
Dec 20 - Mercury At Its Greatest Western Elongation (21 Degrees)
Dec 20 - Asteroid 3352 McAuliffe Near-Earth Flyby (0.396 AU)
Dec 20 - 1st Day Of Ramadan
Dec 21 - Comet C/1998 U5 (LINEAR) Perihelion (1.236 AU)
Dec 21 - 20th Anniversary (1978), Venera 12 Venus Flyby/Landing
Dec 21 - 30th Anniversary (1968), Apollo 8 Launch
Dec 22 - Winter Solstice, 01:55 UT
Dec 22 - Ursids Meteor Shower Peak
Dec 22 - Comet Shoemaker-Levy 7 Closest Approach to Earth (1.103 AU)
Dec 22 - Asteroid 245 Vera Occults SAO 77608 (8.8 Magnitude Star)
Dec 23 - Cassini, Probe Checkout #3
Dec 23 - Comet C/1998 G1 (LINEAR) Closest Approach to Earth (1.982 AU)
Dec 24 - Asteroid 49 Pales Occults PPM 206242 (9.5 Magnitude Star)
Dec 24 - Asteroid 7894 (1994 XC1) Closest Approach To Earth (1.754 AU)
Dec 25 - Mars Climate Orbiter, Trajectory Correction Maneuver #1
(TCM-1)
Dec 25 - Moon Occults Jupiter
Dec 25 - Asteroid 1998 WZ6 Near-Earth Flyby (0.284 AU)
Dec 25 - Asteroid 5164 Mullo Closest Approach To Earth (0.966 AU)
Dec 25 - Asteroid 5721 (1984 SO5) Closest Approach To Earth (1.545 AU)
Dec 25 - 20th Anniversary (1978), Venera 11 Venus Flyby/Landing
Dec 26 - Asteroid 7474 (1992 TC) Closest Approach To Earth (0.577 AU)
Dec 26 - Asteroid 7709 (1994 RN1) Closest Approach To Earth (1.438 AU)
Dec 27 - Galileo, Orbital Trim Maneuver #58 (OTM-58)
Dec 27 - NEAR, Eros Satellite Search (A)
Dec 27 - Asteroid 1998 QT60 Closest Approach To Earth (0.766 AU)
Dec 28 - NEAR, 2nd Eros Rendezvous Braking Maneuver (RND-2)
Dec 28 - NEAR, 3rd Eros Rendezvous Braking Maneuver (RND-3)
Dec 28 - Asteroid 7072 Beijingdaxue Closest Approach To Earth (1.710
AU)
Dec 29 - Asteroid 132 Aethra At Opposition (10.9 Magnitude)
Dec 29 - Asteroid 67 Asia At Opposition
Dec 31 - Leap Second Added To World's Clocks
Dec 31 - Asteroid 7201 (1994 UF1) Closest Approach To Earth (1.238 AU)
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 16 декабря 1998 (1998-12-16)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews - December 1998 [13/13]
Привет всем!
Вот, свалилось из Internet...
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